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Regulatory Matters
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2023
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Abstract]  
Regulatory Matters REGULATORY MATTERS
Ludington Accounting Application
During April 2022, DTE Electric and Consumers Energy Company (“Consumers”) filed a complaint against Toshiba America Energy Systems (“TAES”) and its parent corporation for defective and non-conforming work relating to the overhaul and upgrade of the Ludington Hydroelectric Pumped Storage Plant (“Ludington”). Refer to the Ludington Plant Contract Dispute section of Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, “Commitments and Contingencies,” for additional information regarding the complaint and ongoing legal proceedings.
DTE Electric and Consumers, joint owners of Ludington, believe that certain costs must be incurred in the near term for repairing and/or replacing defective work performed by TAES in order to ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of the plant. In November 2022, DTE Electric and Consumers filed an accounting application with the MPSC for authority to defer these costs as a regulatory asset. DTE Electric and Consumers requested the regulatory asset for their respective 49% and 51% shares of these costs, to be offset by any potential litigation proceeds. The parties also requested that appropriate recovery and ratemaking treatment be granted in a future rate case or other proceeding. In May 2023, the MPSC approved the accounting application as requested. Costs incurred and deferred as regulatory assets will be reviewed in future rate proceedings for cost recovery.
2023 Electric Rate Case Filing
DTE Electric filed a rate case with the MPSC on February 10, 2023 requesting an increase in base rates of $622 million based on a projected twelve-month period ending November 30, 2024, and an increase in return on equity from 9.9% to 10.25%. The requested increase in base rates is primarily due to increased investments in plant involving generation and the electric distribution system, as well as related increases to depreciation and property tax expenses. These investments will support DTE Energy's goals to reduce carbon emissions and improve power reliability. The requested increase in base rates is also due to a projected sales decline from the level included in current rates and inflationary impacts on operating and interest costs. A final MPSC order in this case is expected in December 2023.
2023 Securitization Filing
On April 3, 2023, DTE Electric filed an application with the MPSC requesting a financing order to approve the securitization of $496 million of qualified costs related to the net book value of the St. Clair and Trenton Channel generation plants. The filing requested recovery of these qualifying costs from DTE Electric's customers.
The MPSC issued a financing order on June 22, 2023 authorizing DTE Electric to proceed with the issuance of Securitization bonds for qualified costs up to $602 million, increased for the inclusion of deferred income taxes. These costs include up to $594 million for the net book value of the St. Clair and Trenton Channel plants and up to $8 million for other qualified costs. The financing order further authorized customer charges for the timely recovery of debt service costs on the Securitization bonds and other ongoing qualified costs.
On November 1, 2023, DTE Electric closed on the issuance of Securitization bonds of $602 million, including two separate tranches of $301 million. Refer to Note 9 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, "Long-Term Debt," for additional information regarding the terms of the bonds and use of proceeds. For the fourth quarter, DTE Electric will reclassify $594 million of Regulatory assets to Securitized regulatory assets for the net book value of the St. Clair and Trenton Channel plants. Debt service costs for the first tranche will be recovered over a period not to exceed 10 years and costs for the second tranche will be recovered over a period not to exceed 15 years.
Integrated Resource Plan
In November 2022, DTE Electric filed an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the MPSC, a comprehensive plan to meet the electricity needs of customers over the next 20 years. The IRP included details on planned coal plant retirements and replacement generation, including investments in renewables and battery storage, with a focus on providing increasingly clean, reliable, and affordable electricity to customers.
On July 12, 2023, DTE Energy announced that DTE Electric reached a settlement agreement with the various stakeholders involved in the IRP. The MPSC issued an order approving the settlement agreement on July 26, 2023. The agreement confirmed DTE Electric's plans to convert its Belle River facility from a coal-fired power plant to a natural gas peaking resource in 2025-2026, and to retire the Monroe power plant generation units 3 and 4 in 2028. DTE Electric also accelerated its planned retirement of Monroe generation units 1 and 2 from 2035 to 2032.
The settlement agreement approved the recovery of undepreciated plant costs that will be retired at Belle River and Monroe. As a result, approximately $2.7 billion of net Property, plant, and equipment was reclassified to a long-term regulatory asset during the third quarter 2023. Future capital expenditures will also be recovered, and the regulatory asset will be remeasured each reporting period for changes in expenditures, retirements, and depreciation.
DTE Electric will securitize $1.05 billion of the plant costs, including approximately $200 million for the estimated net book value of Belle River coal handling assets to be retired in 2025-2026. The remaining $845 million reflects the net book value of Monroe assets to be securitized upon the full retirement of the plant in 2032. Securitization will include the issuance of bonds for the respective plant costs and customer charges for the timely recovery of debt service costs. DTE Electric plans to reclassify amounts to Securitized regulatory assets upon completing the respective securitization financings. Terms of the securitization bonds and recovery periods for the debt service costs will also be determined at that time.
For the remaining net book value of Monroe plant assets, approximately $1.6 billion will be recovered through a regulatory asset with a return on equity of 9.0% and will be amortized over a 15-year period. Amortization will begin upon the issuance of an order in DTE Electric's next rate case, which is currently expected in early 2025. Until then, amounts will continue to be depreciated.
Pursuant to the IRP settlement agreement, DTE Electric has also committed to donate a total of $38 million, including $2 million each year from 2024 to 2027 to organizations providing various energy support to low-income customers. The remaining $30 million of donations will be made to organizations providing customers with bill assistance. The $30 million of donations may be made in varying annual amounts over the 15-year period of the Monroe regulatory asset discussed above, with a minimum amount of $1 million each year beginning in 2028. Organizations receiving donations will be determined at a later date in consultation with Michigan's Attorney General and MPSC staff, among others. Donations will not be recovered in rates and will be recorded as Other Expenses on the Consolidated Statements of Operations in future periods as the donations occur.