Strings Attached: How utilities use charitable giving to influence politics and increase investor profits
DTE Energy
DTE Energy is a utility holding company with natural gas, electric, and pipeline business segments. The company serves 2.2 million electric customers and 1.3 million natural gas customers in Michigan.
Basic Facts:
- EPI estimate of DTE’s total charitable giving in most recent 5 years (2013-2017): $78,420,180. (1)
- Name of Foundation: DTE Energy Foundation
- DTE Energy Foundation Giving (2013-2017): $66,248,118
- 2017: $15,397,171
- 2016: $14,928,082
- 2015: $14,351,630
- 2014: $11,288,231
- 2013: $10,283,004
- Corporate Charitable Giving (2013-2017) (2)
- Sum of total corporate charitable giving according to annual Corporate Citizenship report: at least $70,000,000. (3)
- 2017: Not reported
- 2016: $15,000,000
- 2015: $18,000,000
- 2014: $27,000,000
- 2013: $10,000,000
- Sum of total charitable giving in most recent 5 years according to filings with the Michigan Public Service Commission: $12,172,062. (4)
- 2017: $1,986,893
- 2016: $3,905,494
- 2015: $2,017,096
- 2014: $1,502,397
- 2013: $2,760,182
- Sum of total corporate charitable giving according to annual Corporate Citizenship report: at least $70,000,000. (3)
- DTE Energy Foundation President:
- Lynette M. Dowler. Dowler reports to Nancy Moody, Vice President of Public Affairs for the utility. Dowler previously served as Director of Corporate Safety, Plant Director for Fossil Generation, and director of Enterprise Performance Management.
- DTE Energy Foundation Board of Directors:
- Nancy Moody, Chair and Director, DTE Energy Vice President of Public Affairs
- Lynette Dowler, President and Director
- Mark Rolling, Treasurer and Director, DTE Energy Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer
- Joann Chavez, Director, DTE Energy Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Tax Officer
- Trevor Lauer, Director, DTE Energy President and Chief Operating Officer
- David Meador, Director, DTE Energy Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer
- Lisa Muschong, Director, DTE Energy Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Chief of Staff
- Bruce Peterson, Director, DTE Energy Senior Vice President and General Counsel
- David Ruud, Director, DTE Energy Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Development
- Mark Stiers, Director, DTE Energy President and Chief Operating Officer DTE Power and Industrial and Energy Trading
Examples of DTE Energy using charitable giving to manipulate policy:
2019 Integrated Resource Plan
On June 20, dozens of people gathered in a community room at the Wayne County Community College downtown campus for over four hours. Nearly everyone in the room was there to voice their displeasure with their electric utility company, DTE Energy, and its recently filed Integrated Resource Plan.
Ratepayers and citizens of Detroit told DTE Energy’s regulators on the Public Service Commission that they wanted their power company to move more aggressively towards solar energy, stop planning to build more power plants that burn fracked gas, open up bidding for third parties to construct cheaper renewable energy projects, and allow more homeowners to install rooftop solar.
Yet several individuals who made public comments voiced their support for the company and its IRP.
The first speaker at the public hearing was Jane Garcia of Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development.
“Climate change must be combated, but we need to make it transparent for everyone, and that’s why we need to stress the most vulnerable population and how they’re going to service them. I appreciate DTE’s focus in this area,” stated Garcia. “I’m not sure how solar is going to come out, we only had 78 days of sunshine last year…”
Later in the evening, Reverend Horace Sheffield, a pastor at New Destiny Christian Fellowship and a leader with the Detroit Association of Black Organizations (DABO) told the commissioners, “As climate change fuels the needs for cleaner energy resources, the need for affordable energy bills remains an important factor for DTE as ever. The plan provides a communal solution to the problem of making strategic investments in renewable energy. DTE’s plans gets us where we need to be in mitigating climate change without burdening our community with unreasonable electric bills.”
Months later, Rev. Sheffield authored a letter to the editor in Michigan Chronicle in which he echoed is remarks at the event:
“Reliable and affordable energy fuels the engine of progress, which is why New Destiny Christian Fellowship supports DTE’s commitment to clean energy as outlined in its Integrated Resource Plan, and encourages others to do the same … DTE’s plan gets us where we need to be in mitigating climate change without burdening our community with unreasonable electric bills.”
Rev. Deidic Tupper of New Faith Temple Church of God in Christ said, “I am 100 percent in agreement with the proposal that DTE Energy has provided. We must understand that there should be a diversity of energy. We can not always depend on wind turbines, nor can we always depend on solar energy, but natural gas stabilizes the system and allows us to be able to depend upon an institution that we have to depend upon.”
Of the 50 individuals who provided public comments, nine voiced support for DTE Energy. However, almost every DTE supporter was in some way connected to the company, including five speakers who represented charities or churches that collectively had received at least $578,500 from the DTE Energy Foundation since 2013.
Table 1: DTE Energy Foundation contributions (2013-2017) to organizations and individuals who have voiced support for the company’s 2019 Integrated Resource Plan
| Arab Chaldean Council | $258,000 |
| Detroit Association of Black Organizations, Rev. Horace Sheffield | $112,500 |
| Detroit Chamber of Commerce/Detroit Chamber Foundation | $48,000 |
| Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development | $130,000 |
| New Faith Temple Church of God in Christ, Deidric Tupper | $30,000 |
One audience member caught on to DTE’s relationship to those speakers that were voicing their support for the IRP. Antonio Cosme, an educational coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation, was one of the last members to speak in front of the commissioners and said, “It’s pretty obvious that DTE funds a lot of stuff in the city, so I think you’re going to get a lot of folks speaking for our monopoly energy provider. But generally speaking, most citizens of the city and of Wayne County aren’t going to speak up for DTE.”
The PSC will rule on DTE’s IRP in early 2020.
2018-2019 Rate Case and Rooftop Solar Proposals
Acting in accordance with new legislation, the rate increase that DTE Energy submitted in 2018 included a proposal to replace net metering with a new compensation program for solar customers. The proposal would have significantly reduced the rate at which a customer would be compensated for the electricity their solar panels send back to the grid, and added a fee on customers who install rooftop solar.
As with utility rate cases, intervenors provided testimony and commission hearings occurred throughout the rest of 2018 and 2019.
The public also weighed in.
Commissioner Sally Talberg said the thousands of comments urging the PSC to reject DTE’s proposed fee and reduced rate for solar compensation were “unprecedented” during her time at the agency.
In response, the utility mobilized non-profit organizations to create the perception of public support for the anti-rooftop solar proposals.
Midwest Energy News reported that a group called Michigan Energy Promise emerged in January 2019 to back DTE Energy’s position on net metering and other issues before the PSC.
On February 26, Bishop W.L. Starghill, Jr, a member of the new group and the Michigan Democratic Black Caucus, authored an opinion piece in Bridge Magazine attacking the solar industry with various utility industry talking points. Starghill said Michigan Energy Promise was created to defend the state’s energy policies.
The allies listed on Michigan Energy Promise’s website are mostly churches, chambers of commerce, and nonprofits that advocate for communities of color. However, many of the groups have either received thousands of dollars from the DTE Energy Foundation over the past five years, list the utility as a corporate sponsor on organization websites, or include a utility employee as a member of the board.
Table 2: DTE Energy Foundation (2013-2017) contributions to member organizations and individuals of the Michigan Energy Promise coalition
| Amandla Community Development/Fellowship Chapel | $100,000 |
| Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services | $150,000 |
| Black Family Development | $47,500 |
| Council of Asian Pacific Americans | Four members of its advisory board are DTE Energy employees |
| Detroit Association of Black Organizations, Rev. Horace Sheffield | $112,500 |
| Detroit Cristo Rey High School | $29,000 |
| Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development | $130,000 |
| New Faith Temple Church of God in Christ, Deidric Tupper | $30,000 |
| Urban League of Detroit and Southeast Michigan | $31,500 |
Michigan Energy Promise’s advocacy did not result in a victory. The PSC listened to the public and rejected DTE’s proposal to raise fees on solar customers, and the PSC did not agree with the inflow/outflow method DTE proposed. Instead, solar customers will see a larger bill credit for their excess solar energy than DTE’s proposal would have allowed.
Footnotes
(1) Estimate based on DTE Energy Foundation’s 990 giving and the DTE’s reporting to the Michigan Public Service Commission.
(2) This amount of money is in addition to the money DTE Energy allocates to the DTE Energy Foundation.
(3) The CCR reports do not provide specific amounts. The CCR reports also do not specify Foundation or corporate charitable giving.
(4) FERC Form 1 filings show a total of $40,957,058 during this time period, but this total includes money allocated towards corporate sponsorships with Palace Sports and Entertainment, according to the more detailed reports filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission. EPI analyzed the PSC reports and found $12,172,062 in corporate charitable giving, which excludes the sponsorships for entertainment events and money allocated to the DTE Foundation, between 2013-2017 (2017: $1,986,893; 2016: $3,905,494; 2015: $2,017,096; 2014: $1,502,397; 2013: $2,760,182).
Read the rest of the report and other utility case studies here.