LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Four years after raising customers' bills to meet mandates to sell cleaner power, Michigan's biggest utilities are eliminating the fees or slashing them significantly.
Residential customers of DTE Electric may see their $3 monthly surcharge fall to 43 cents under a proposal to state regulators. Consumers Energy's 52-cent monthly fee for residential customers - which once was $2.50 - could go away entirely.
Advocates say the shrinking surcharges for residents and businesses are another reason to make utilities sell more green electricity.
Michigan is requiring utilities to generate 10 percent of their power from renewable sources by the end of 2015.
Voters last year rejected boosting the minimum to 25% by 2025. Gov. Rick Snyder favors raising the requirement but hasn't decided how big the increase should be.
