| Date | 2 Oct 2026 |
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The order places the cost of serving a Van Buren Township data center on Google LLC, not on other DTE Electric Co. customers, and requires Google to fund up to 1,600 MW of renewables and 480 MW of storage that DTE Electric will own.
IN BRIEF: On October 1, 2026, the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a primary supply agreement and a clean capacity accelerator agreement between DTE Electric Co. and Google LLC in Case No. U-22058 for a data center in Wayne County’s Van Buren Township, conditioned on protections so other customers bear none of the project’s costs.
The Michigan Public Service Commission on October 1, 2026, approved special contracts between DTE Electric Co. and Google LLC for electric service to a data center in Van Buren Township, Wayne County. The order in Case No. U-22058 is conditioned on mandatory protections meant to keep other customers from bearing any costs associated with the project. For the buyer and for the utility that will own the new resources, the decision fixes who pays, for how long, and what happens if the load does not arrive.
The Commission approved two instruments. A primary supply agreement governs the terms of electric service to the data center. A clean capacity accelerator agreement provides for new clean energy resources and energy storage to help power the facility. Google pays for those resources. DTE Electric develops, owns, and operates them. The approval, the Commission said, ensures no costs are passed on to DTE Electric’s other customers.
Chair Dan Scripps put the customer-protection finding in direct terms. “The protections the MSPC enacted today in approving these contracts will ensure that other customers aren’t subsidizing this large addition to the state’s energy grid,” MPSC Chair Dan Scripps said. “Furthermore, the range of resources identified to serve the customer — and the fact that Google will pay the full costs of these resources — helps ensure we can add this significant load while maintaining grid scale reliability and continuing progress towards the state’s clean energy goals.” The release prints the agency acronym inside that quotation as MSPC.
The primary supply agreement lengthens and tightens the ordinary large-load tariff. The contract runs 20 years, against the 5-year contracts normally required under DTE Electric’s large-load D11 rate. The Commission framed the longer term as a reduction in the risk of stranded infrastructure costs if a data center left before the costs to serve it were paid. Minimum billing demand is 80 percent, compared with 50–65 percent in the general D11 rate. Google must pay a minimum of 80 percent of contracted electric use even if actual use is lower. An early-termination payment requires Google to pay for at least 15 years of minimum monthly charges, so costs to serve the project are recovered from Google even if it cancels early. Credit and collateral requirements cover costs if Google ceases operating the data center sooner than planned. The release describes these as continuing ratepayer protections that have been highlighted as some of the strongest in the country.
The clean capacity accelerator agreement requires Google to pay for DTE Electric to develop up to 1,600 megawatts of renewable energy and 480 megawatts of battery energy storage to serve the data center. The release does not state a contracted megawatt figure for the data center load itself. According to DTE Electric, the data center is expected to begin taking service in December 2027, with maximum load achieved by December 2028. Those dates are the utility’s expectation, not a Commission finding that service has begun.
DTE Electric contends that approval will result in a $1.7 billion benefit, reducing costs to other customers over the 20-year life of the contract as Google pays for fixed costs that benefit the entire grid. The Commission’s release reports that contention. It does not adopt the $1.7 billion figure as its own calculation.
The Commission’s authority in Case No. U-22058 is limited to the terms and conditions of utility service and to protections so that other DTE Electric customers are not responsible for data center costs and financial risks. The Commission has no authority over whether and where a data center may locate. Siting and the decision to build remain outside this order.
The order closes a fully contested case. The Commission, MPSC Staff, and intervenors, including the Michigan Department of Attorney General, had full access to all documents filed, including confidential documents filed under protective seal. Other intervenors were the Michigan Environmental Council; Natural Resources Defense Council; Sierra Club; Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association; Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council; Institute for Energy Innovation; Ecology Center; Environmental Law & Policy Center; Union of Concerned Scientists; Vote Solar; and Association for Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity. The contract terms that allocate stranded-cost risk were examined by the state attorney general and by environmental and business intervenors, not granted on an unopposed filing.
What the order establishes for investor and enterprise-buyer scrutiny is narrower than a power headline suggests. Google LLC funds the resource build — up to 1,600 MW of renewables and 480 MW of storage — and takes a 20-year supply contract with an 80 percent minimum billing demand and a 15-year termination floor. DTE Electric Co. owns and operates the resources and has told the Commission it expects a $1.7 billion benefit to other customers. Neither the data center’s load in megawatts nor the realization of that benefit is established by the order. The commercial fact the order does establish is cost containment: other DTE Electric customers are not to subsidize the addition.
WHY IT MATTERS: Case No. U-22058 shifts the financial risk of a large Michigan data-center load onto Google through a longer contract, a higher minimum take, and a 15-year termination floor, while leaving siting outside the Commission’s authority. The $1.7 billion customer benefit remains DTE Electric’s contention, and the December 2027 in-service date remains the utility’s expectation.