Today, many people are concerned about data centers because of the threat they pose to our water, our ability to make choices about our communities, and our democracy. People are also worried about their electric bills continuing to rise even as they cut back on energy use, buy more efficient appliances, and switch to LED lightbulbs.

But there’s a process that could have a huge impact on both data centers and our electric bills that many people aren't talking about: the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

An IRP is a long-term plan for how an electric utility will provide energy to its customers in the future. These plans are filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) and look ahead at the next 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. Learn more about Michigan's IRP requirements

Right now, Consumers Energy is working on an IRP and seeking approval from the MPSC. The process brings together the MPSC, Consumers Energy, and legal intervenors and advocacy organizations. Intervenors participate in the legal process to make sure decisions about future energy demand, infrastructure, costs, and resources are fully considered (including who pays for new investments and how communities are affected).

The Urban Core Collective is one of those intervenors. We are advocating for affordable, clean, and reliable energy for the people who need it most.

Consumers Energy's next IRP will help determine how the company generates and delivers electricity for years to come. This includes what gets built, who pays for it, where investments happen, and how Michigan responds to growing electricity demand.

At Urban Core Collective, we're asking a simple question:

What kind of energy system are we building and who is it being built for?

Because this conversation is about more than electricity. It is about affordability, racial equity, climate change, and who gets a meaningful voice in decisions that affect our communities.

Here are the facts: 

• $154 million: The amount the MPSC approved for Consumers Energy's electric rate increase in 2025. MPSC's 2025 Consumers Energy rate decision
• $276.6 million: The amount the MPSC approved for Consumers Energy's electric rate increase in 2026. Consumers Energy had asked for $436 million. Both record amounts. MPSC's 2026 Consumers Energy rate decision
• 9.9%: The return on equity (after all bills are paid their investors get to add 9.9 to your bill) approved by the MPSC for Consumers Energy. MPSC's 2026 rate decision
• 120 more: The average number of additional disconnections that happened in  census tracts with the same median income but predominantly BIPOC residents compared to predominantly white census tracts.

These numbers tell a story. Michigan is spending billions on its energy while too many families are struggling to afford other basic needs.  

Over the past decade, Consumers Energy has repeatedly come before the Michigan Public Service Commission seeking higher rates. In fact, according to the MPSC website, Consumers Energy has asked and has been approved for rate hikes 8 times over the last 10 years. They have received a cumulative whopping $994.4 million which amounts to a 34% increase in your electric bill over those 10yrs. Energy costs don't affect every family in the same way.

For a family with money to spare, another $6 or $10 on the monthly electric bill might be an inconvenience. But for many frontline communities, higher energy bills come alongside more pollution, older infrastructure, and fewer investments in clean energy. This is called energy burden: when a household has to spend a larger share of its income just to keep the lights on and the home comfortable. For a family already choosing between electricity, rent, food, transportation, and medicine, a higher bill can be the difference between keeping the lights on and falling behind.

And when we look at who is experiencing disconnections, racial disparities matter. Research using Consumers Energy's own data found that, even when income was held constant, predominantly BIPOC communities experienced more residential disconnections.

The public is invited, but the system isn't designed for the public

Michigan's regulatory process gives people opportunities to participate. But being allowed into the process isn't the same as having meaningful power in it.

There are legal filings, technical testimony, discovery, modeling, procedural deadlines, and hundreds of pages of documents. A utility can bring lawyers, engineers, economists, and regulatory specialists. Most residents cannot.

At the Urban Core Collective, we've spent years learning how to navigate this system by intervening in Consumers Energy rate cases and IRP proceedings and working with attorneys and technical experts. We've learned that the people most affected by energy decisions are often the people least equipped to participate in the process.

That's why we're taking a different approach with this IRP. 

We're bringing the conversation into communities. 

Rather than asking residents to become utility regulators, we're asking them a much more important question: What should Michigan's energy future look like for you?

And then there are the data centers

People across Michigan are understandably asking questions about the rapid growth of data centers. These enormous facilities can require huge amounts of electricity, water, and new infrastructure. Communities are hearing that Michigan may need to build more energy resources to serve growing demand.

So, naturally, people are asking: Who's going to pay for all of this?

The MPSC has begun putting protections in place to help make sure large customers don't shift their costs onto existing residential customers, including requiring additional cost-of-service studies and filings for new large-load customers.

That's a start. But communities deserve to know what these projects could mean for their bills, their neighborhoods, and our climate.

If we need billions of dollars in new generation and grid infrastructure to serve massive new electricity users, we need to know who is paying for it. And if that new demand requires more generation, we need to make sure Michigan doesn't respond by locking communities into decades of additional fossil-fuel infrastructure.

The communities that have historically carried the greatest burden of pollution and climate impacts are often the same communities least able to absorb higher energy costs. That is environmental injustice. We need communities at the table before the decisions are made.

What we've learned

Michigan's last Consumers Energy IRP demonstrated that community and intervenor participation can shape utility planning. The MPSC's 2022 approval included additional environmental justice analysis, low-income energy-efficiency participation, emissions and public-health analysis, and accelerated energy-storage deployment. Urban Core Collective was one of the intervening organizations in that proceeding. Read the MPSC's 2022 Consumers Energy IRP decision

We shouldn't wait until the technical filings are complete to ask communities what they think. Meaningful engagement has to happen before the decisions are made.

That's why we're working with communities across the Consumers Energy service territory to create space for residents to learn about the IRP, talk about their experiences with the energy system, and identify the priorities they want reflected in Michigan's energy future.

We want to hear from:

• People who have experienced high bills.
• People who have lost power.
• People who have struggled with shutoffs.
• People concerned about climate change.
• People who want more renewable energy.
• People who want better reliability.
• People asking whether the arrival of massive data centers could make their electric bills higher.

These voices belong in the IRP process.

What you can do next

Join us October 8 from 12:00–1:30 p.m. for our next community conversation at the Latino Community Coalition Luncheon at the LINC-Up Gallery.

Click here to register here 

This luncheon is a chance to learn more about Consumers Energy's IRP and, most importantly, have a say in what you believe Michigan's energy future should look like.

We'll be getting creative, too! You'll have the opportunity to create your own energy vision board and submit it as your statement about the future you want to see. So bring your ideas, your experiences, and your questions. And let the creative juices flow.

You don't have to understand every technical detail of utility regulation to participate. You already know what it means to live with your electric bill, experience an outage, worry about a shutoff, or think about the future of your community.

We're making sure the people who live with the consequences have a voice in the decisions.
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If you are unable to make it to the event, reach out to Sergio at sergio@uccgr.org to learn more or share your story.

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