JACKSON – Consumers Energy expects to spend $5.2 billion on renewables and $8.5 billion on distribution-level reliability and resilience projects through 2029.
Through 2035, the company anticipates spending $10 billion for line undergrounding and pole replacement, $10 billion for the commission-approved 10.8 GW of renewables and at least $5 billion for the battery storage and gas investments.
Consumers Energy benefits from a “constructive” regulatory environment and strong state support for the utility’s clean energy goals, CMS Energy President and CEO Garrick Rochow said.
In a June filing in the electric utility’s pending rate case, PSC staff supported about 75% of its 10.25% return on equity request and about 90% of its revised capital request. That followed a March order in a prior rate case granting the electric utility a $154 million revenue increase to support grid reliability and resilience investments.
Additionally, the commission approved 8 GW of solar capacity and 2.8 GW of wind for inclusion in the electric utility’s next renewable energy plan, which will map out Consumers’ clean energy investments through 2035. Both Michigan and Consumers aim to retire coal and reach net-zero emissions in the power sector by 2040.
Rochow said the integrated resource plan Consumers expects to file in mid-2026 will have more on near- and mid-term investments to replace retired plants and support expected load growth. He said the plan would likely include “more battery storage and gas capacity,” with the mix of simple-cycle and possible combined-cycle gas plant investments dependent on the utility’s data center pipeline. Consumers will reveal more about those plans on its next investor call, he said.
Rochow and CMS Energy Chief Financial Officer Rejji Hayes said they expect the Trump administration to repeatedly renew its order that Consumers keep running the 1.5-GW J.H. Campbell power plant.
Hayes stressed that the costs associated with Campbell’s continued operation would be socialized across the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s North and Central regions, sparing Michigan ratepayers the full brunt.
He noted that the plant “is being operated for the benefit of the region,” per the Energy Department order — a condition that has raised alarms among ratepayer advocates and spurred environmental groups and large electricity consumers to sue.
“I think it’s important to note that we’re trying our best to make sure that Michigan customers are held harmless,” Hayes said.
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