All over the country, utilities and their customers who want to use rooftop solar have collided over the issue of what kind of payments are fair for the electricity exported to the grid by distributed solar panels. Nowhere is that conflict clearer than in the case of DTE Electric, the largest electric utility by customer base in Michigan. DTE has proposed what has been called one of the worst tariffs for rooftop solar in the country. As we will explain, those criticisms are not hyperbole. As Michigan regulators get closer to a decision on the DTE rate case where the tariff has been proposed, the conflict has heated up and is one that the solar industry should be watching closely.
