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Michigan’s Attorney General enforces consumer-protection laws by investigating alleged violations, suing businesses, and mediating consumer complaints. For investor-owned electric and natural-gas utilities, the office advocates for customers in proceedings before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC); the Commission, not the Attorney General, regulates utility rates and services and makes the decisions.

That distinction determines where to take a problem: contact the Attorney General about a business’s alleged unfair or deceptive conduct, and use the utility and MPSC channels for a utility service or billing dispute.

Which office handles which problem?

Issue State actor and process What the process can do
A business’s alleged unfair or deceptive conduct involving goods or services for personal, family, or household use Michigan Department of Attorney General: investigation, civil enforcement, and informal complaint mediation The department may investigate and sue. Mediation can seek a business response but does not make the department the consumer’s private lawyer.
Investor-owned electric or natural-gas utility rates and services MPSC: utility regulation and decisions; Attorney General: customer advocacy and intervention in regulatory cases The Attorney General can present and argue the consumer position in a case. The MPSC decides whether to approve a rate request or other regulatory action.
A utility complaint, including an unresolved outage-credit concern Contact the utility first; if dissatisfied with its response, file a complaint with the MPSC The utility and MPSC channels address the customer’s utility issue. The Attorney General’s utilities page also offers a feedback form that it says it will send to the provider with a request for an update.

The MPSC regulates investor-owned electric and natural-gas companies. Cooperatives and municipal utilities may have rates set by a board or city council, according to the Attorney General’s utility information. For payment difficulty, the Attorney General directs customers to MPSC assistance information, including shut-off protection programs.

How consumer-protection enforcement works

What the Michigan Consumer Protection Act covers

The Attorney General says the Michigan Consumer Protection Act (MCPA) applies to goods and services leased or purchased for personal, family, or household purposes. The department describes the Act as prohibiting unfair or deceptive practices, including price gouging, failing to disclose facts material to a sale, and misrepresenting the source or geographic origin of goods or services. The Attorney General says the Act authorizes the office to investigate and sue.

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The department’s Corporate Oversight Division describes its primary enforcement role as civil enforcement, including active enforcement of state consumer-protection laws. Its stated areas include deceptive business practices, usurious lending, and price gouging.

What complaint mediation does—and does not do

Consumers can submit a complaint to the Attorney General. The Consumer Protection Division says it sends the complaint and supporting materials to the business and asks for a response. If the business has not responded within 30 days, the office says it will contact it again; the office can also tell the consumer if the business refuses to respond.

Mediation is informal assistance, not legal representation or a guarantee of a particular outcome. If it does not resolve the dispute, the Attorney General suggests that consumers consider small claims court or consult a private attorney.

Enforcement examples and legal qualifications

On July 29, 2026, the department announced a preliminary injunction against Boss’s Pump & Well Service and its owner. The release described the Attorney General’s lawsuit as alleging violations of the Public Health Code and MCPA, including unlicensed operation. The interim court order barred specified pump installation, well drilling, or plumbing work while the complaint was being adjudicated. An allegation and preliminary injunction are not a final finding of liability.

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On July 31, 2026, Attorney General Dana Nessel said the Michigan Supreme Court had reversed decisions in Smith v. Globe Life Insurance Co. and Liss v. Lewiston-Richards, Inc. The department characterized the earlier decisions as limiting MCPA applicability to some conduct by businesses licensed by state or federal agencies. That is the Attorney General’s description of the decisions; the statement alone does not establish the precise holdings, procedural posture, or subsequent effects.

How the Attorney General advocates in utility cases

In cases involving investor-owned electric and natural-gas utilities, the Attorney General says the office intervenes to advocate for affordable, reliable service and challenge costs it considers unreasonable or imprudent. Intervention means presenting a position in the regulatory process; it does not itself approve, reject, or set a utility rate. The MPSC issues the regulatory decision.

A request is not an approved rate

Rate cases can involve large proposed increases, but a utility’s filing and the MPSC’s eventual order are different things. These examples illustrate why the amount, date, utility, and status of a figure matter:

Utility and proceeding What was reported Status and qualification
Consumers Energy, filing announced June 2, 2026 Approximately $456 million in annual electric revenue increases sought; the release described a 9.8% requested residential rate increase. A company request reported by the Attorney General, not an approved outcome.
Consumers Energy, MPSC decision announced March 27, 2026 The MPSC approved a $276.6 million electric rate increase. The Attorney General’s release said the utility had initially sought 13%, while the Attorney General’s filed testimony argued for 3.5%. The release described the approved increase as $160 million below the original request and said residential electric rates would rise 8.9%, effective May 1, 2026. An approved decision in that specific proceeding, as characterized by the Department of Attorney General. These figures should not be conflated with the separate June 2026 filing.
DTE, intervention announced April 28, 2026 Approximately $474.3 million in annual electric revenue increases sought; the release described a 9.7% requested residential increase. The amount requested at the time of the announcement, not an MPSC decision.

Reliability oversight

A February 28, 2025 Attorney General release said the MPSC had adopted financial incentives and penalties tied to electric-service reliability improvements for DTE and Consumers Energy. It reported that each utility was directed to file a proposed financial mechanism in a separate docket by April 15, 2025, and that standalone proceedings to review performance against new metrics were set to begin in October 2027. Those dates describe the schedule reported in the 2025 release; they do not establish the present status of the dockets or whether the schedule has changed.

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Utility complaint steps for customers

If you think you should have received an outage credit

  1. Contact your utility first and ask about the outage credit. The Attorney General’s utility page says an adjustment may take one or two billing cycles.
  2. If you remain dissatisfied with the utility’s response, use the MPSC complaint process. The Attorney General’s page also offers a feedback or inquiry form; it says the office will send the information to the provider and request an update.

For payment difficulties, consult the MPSC assistance information referenced by the Attorney General, including information about shut-off protection programs.

What the department reports about results

The figures below are reported by the Michigan Department of Attorney General, not independently audited results. Complaint recovery totals and utility-customer savings refer to different activities and should not be added together.

Period Figure reported What it represents
2025, published March 3, 2026 More than 12,000 written complaints Consumer complaints reported by the Department.
2025, published March 3, 2026 $1.88 million recovered Michigan consumers and businesses, through complaint mediation recovery, settlements, and refunds, according to the Department.
2019 $473 million Utility-customer savings figure presented on the Attorney General’s utilities page.
2020 $606 million Utility-customer savings figure presented on the Attorney General’s utilities page.
2021 $281 million Utility-customer savings figure presented on the Attorney General’s utilities page.
2022 $1 billion Utility-customer savings figure presented on the Attorney General’s utilities page.
2023 $668 million Utility-customer savings figure presented on the Attorney General’s utilities page.
2024 $438 million Utility-customer savings figure presented on the Attorney General’s utilities page.
2025 $528 million Utility-customer savings figure presented on the Attorney General’s utilities page.
First two quarters of 2026 $550.7 million Partial-year utility-customer savings figure shown on the Attorney General’s utilities page; it is not a full-year 2026 result.

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