Michigan · Investor Owned · serves 343 ZIP codes
DTE Electric Company rate plans
7 residential plans are currently open to new customers that we can price side by side. Some charge different prices depending on the hour — which is where most of the savings hide.
Looking for when the expensive hours are? DTE Electric’s peak hours, plan by plan →
What does DTE Electric cost at a normal month’s usage?
A household using 1,000 kWh a month pays about $1,308 a year on the cheapest of the 11 plans we can price here — Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Commercial) — and $2,854 on the priciest. Same house, same wires.
| A month of | Cheapest, a year | On which plan | Priciest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 kWh | $673 | Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Commercial) | $1,484 |
| 1,000 kWh | $1,308 | Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Commercial) | $2,854 |
| 2,000 kWh | $2,578 | Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Commercial) | $5,595 |
The same plan is cheapest at every level of use here, so the answer does not turn on how much you use. Estimates from the filed tariff, priced hour by hour on a household with central air — not a quote.
How much does the plan you pick actually matter here?
Run the same three-bedroom house with central air through every plan DTE Electric Company files, and the bill lands anywhere between $1,548 and $2,272 a year. That $724 spread is not a difference in electricity — it is the same kilowatt-hours, from the same wires, priced under different rules. Nobody sends you a letter when you are on the wrong side of it.
The plan most households land on by default, Residential Service Rate - (Full Service) - D1, comes to about $2,272. The cheapest option here, Residential Time of Day (Retail Service) - D1.2, comes to $1,548 — a gap of about $724 a year for a household that never changed a single habit. Whether you can actually capture that depends on when you use power, which is what the calculator below is for.
3 of these 7 plans price by the hour. Those are the ones where moving laundry, dishes, or car charging into the cheap window changes the bill; on the rest, the clock is irrelevant and only the total matters. Which camp you belong in is the first question worth settling, because it decides whether shifting your day is worth anything at all.
Watch the fixed charges too. Across these plans they run from $102 to $117 a year before a single kilowatt-hour is counted. For a small household that difference alone can outweigh the per-kWh price, which is why comparing cents per kilowatt-hour on its own quietly misleads.
How DTE Electric compares across Michigan
Run the same three-bedroom house with central air through its default plan at each of the 2 Michigan utilities we cover, and DTE Electric is the dearest of the lot at about $2,272 a year; the state median is $1,968. The cheapest, City of Lansing, charges $1,663 for identical use — a gap set by the address, not by anything either household did.
The other two households tell the same story in different sizes: a small apartment pays about $1,225 here against a state median of $1,094, and the same house with an electric car charging overnight about $3,105 against $2,585. Effective rate, fixed charge included, is 24.0¢ per kilowatt-hour for the family home.
Inside DTE Electric itself, the gap between its cheapest and dearest plan for that house is $724 a year — more than the $609 between Michigan's cheapest and dearest utilities. Which plan you are on matters more here than which company sends the bill.
Every Michigan utility we cover, priced for the same three households →
Which plan would cost you least?
No bill upload, no sign-up. Tell us roughly what a month costs you and what runs on electricity — we price every plan against the same household and show you the gap.
That adds up to 7,732 kWh a year. Compare it to the total on your bill and adjust until it’s close.
Same usage, different plan
$1,022a year
That is the gap between the cheapest plan you could be on — Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Commercial) — and the priciest. Not by using less power. By being billed differently for the same power.
| Plan | Per year | Vs best |
|---|---|---|
| Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Commercial)One rate, every hour of the year. | $856 | — |
| Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Full Service Commercial)One rate, every hour of the year. | $1,109 | +$253 |
| Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Residential)One rate, every hour of the year. | $1,114 | +$259 |
| Residential Space Heating (Retail Access)-D2The hour never matters here — only the season. Rates peak June–October. | $1,271 | +$415 |
| Residential Time of Day (Retail Service) - D1.2Peak hits 11am–7pm every day, all year. | $1,277 | +$422 |
| Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Full Service Residential)One rate, every hour of the year. | $1,352 | +$496 |
| Residential Service Rate - (Retail Access Service) - D1One rate, every hour of the year. | $1,426 | +$571 |
| Residential Space Heating (Full Service)-D2The hour never matters here — only the season. Rates peak June–October. | $1,680 | +$825 |
| Residential Time of Day (Full Service) - D1.2Peak hits 11am–7pm every day, all year. | $1,711 | +$855 |
| Residential Time of Day Rate (Full Service) - D1.11 (No New Customers)Peak hits 3pm–7pm on weekdays, all year. | $1,804 | +$948 |
| Residential Service Rate - (Full Service) - D1One rate, every hour of the year. | $1,878 | +$1,022 |
An estimate, not a quote. Supply charges move month to month, and your real usage pattern is not exactly this one. What it does show reliably is the gap between plans — both are priced off the same assumptions.
Before you switch anything
- What is a time-of-use electricity rate?
The same kilowatt-hour, priced differently depending on when you use it.
- Should you switch to a time-of-use electricity plan?
A wide peak-to-off-peak gap is a lever, not a saving. Levers need something to move.
- How to compare electricity plans without getting it wrong
Six things that break a comparison, and the order to check them in.
Every plan, in detail
Hour-by-hour schedules, tier thresholds, and the tariff each one comes from.
- Residential Service Rate - (Full Service) - D1flat
One rate, every hour of the year.
21.5–22.8¢ - Residential Service Rate - (Retail Access Service) - D1flat
One rate, every hour of the year.
15.7–17.0¢ - Residential Space Heating (Full Service)-D2flat
The hour never matters here — only the season. Rates peak June–October.
18.7–22.0¢ - Residential Space Heating (Retail Access)-D2flat
The hour never matters here — only the season. Rates peak June–October.
13.4–16.8¢ - Residential Time of Day (Full Service) - D1.2time-of-use
Peak hits 11am–7pm every day, all year.
18.0–28.9¢ - Residential Time of Day (Retail Service) - D1.2time-of-use
Peak hits 11am–7pm every day, all year.
14.3–17.4¢ - Residential Time of Day Rate (Full Service) - D1.11 (No New Customers)time-of-use
Peak hits 3pm–7pm on weekdays, all year.
21.5–27.2¢ - Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Full Service Commercial)flat
One rate, every hour of the year.
13.9¢ - Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Full Service Residential)flat
One rate, every hour of the year.
17.0¢ - Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Commercial)flat
One rate, every hour of the year.
10.6¢ - Water Heating Service Rate D5 Option 1 (Retail Service Residential)flat
One rate, every hour of the year.
13.9¢