On Monday night, angry DTE customers let their voices be heard during town halls over DTE's handling of recent power outages.
Some spent days, while others spent over a week without power in the dark and the cold.
Now, DTE is pushing for approval on a $622 million increase that would raise residential rates by nearly 14%.
There was no agenda for the meeting and instead, it was full of public comment. They heard from people in both Dearborn and in Jackson in two separate town halls.
"I demand that DTE be held accountable for their dangerous negligence," one person said.
DTE representatives and the Michigan Public Service Commission listened to customers who were upset over the recent rate hike request, especially after the recent winter storms left hundreds of thousands of people without power for several days.
"We've got to make sure the grid can stand up to our changing weather patterns. It's not a popular answer, but it's a truthful answer," DTE Director of Community Engagement Rodney Cole said.
Others are angry and say DTE is prioritizing shareholders over service.
"I am really asking you to deny this and I am asking you to enforce what ought to be normal, which is we get what we pay for. And I'm asking you to stop calling it a weather-based problem," One person said.
The meeting lasted about two hours.
"iI is simply placing the cost of maintenance on the customer and I reject that," another person said.
Dan Scripps, the chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, said they haven't had a meeting like this in nearly ten years and said it was more important to hear from the people.
"There's no question that the grid is challenging. We have too many outages, they last too long, too many people have repeated outages year on year," Scripps said.
However, some customers did take the side of DTE, but they were outnumbered.
"I'm here to speak in favor to DTE because I think they've done the best they can," one person said to boos.
But the message was clear. Many want the rate hike rejected.
"Reject this rate hike and raise your ability to hold them accountable," one person said.
There will be another town hall at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night. To watch, click here.
