In March, DTE Energy in Detroit will lower its gas cost recovery (GCR) for the third consecutive month this year. The GCR factor fell by $1.02 per thousand cubic feet as of March 1, which represents a 23 percent decrease from February’s GCR.
The reduction is expected to equal a $12 reduction on an average residential customer’s March bill and totals an estimated $15 million in reductions for customers. DTE expects to see an additional $8 million in reductions for business customers, as well.
March is the third consecutive month DTE has reduced the GCR rate, lowering customer bills. Together, the three decreases total $1.67 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas or the equivalent of $32.19 in total reductions on the average residential customer’s January through March bills.
As a regulated energy company, DTE ‘recovers’ the cost of buying natural gas supplies by billing customers what DTE pays for the gas, with no markup or additional cost.
DTE locks in natural gas prices up to three years in advance, which protects customers from sudden price spikes by smoothing out the highs and lows of supply and demand.
DTE also buys more gas than customers use in the summer and stores it underground — the region’s clay soil is ideal for storing natural gas — so it is available when customers need it in the winter.
The focus on cost efficiency has helped DTE avoid raising its base rate for bills, defying the inflation that’s been hitting every other aspect of its customers’ lives.
In addition, DTE has not filed for a natural gas rate increase with the Michigan Public Service Commission since February 2021. Customers who have enrolled in ‘Gas Choice’ to have another company supply their natural gas (an alternative gas supplier), will continue to pay their contracted rate and will not see savings from this reduction.
Customers can confirm who their gas supplier is by checking their natural gas bills, which indicate their gas supplier (if it is not DTE), while also comparing the supplier’s rate to DTE’s GCR rate.
Customers may compare the rates of all natural gas providers by visiting the State of Michigan’s Compare MI Gas website.
For more information, learn how energy prices are set and how to read a bill.
 for the third consecutive month this year.){kind=link}