If they raise residential rates in year one, they lose their federal funding.
She will cut off federal funding to investor-owned utilities that raise residential rates in year one of the policy period.
Occurrences
Evidence
Congress.gov identifies Stevens as a Michigan 11th District House member from the 116th through 119th Congresses, in office from 2019 to present, with member activity including sponsored legislation and votes.
DOE announced conditional loan guarantees of up to $1.64 billion for DTE Gas and $7.17 billion for DTE Electric, utility subsidiaries of DTE Energy. DOE said the Inflation Reduction Act created the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment category used for the financing.
The Michigan Public Service Commission authorized DTE Electric to increase revenue by $217.38 million. A typical residential customer using 500 kWh per month would see a $4.61, or 4.65%, monthly bill increase. The release also says DTE Electric's last rate increase was in December 2023.
The House passed H.R. 5376 on August 12, 2022, and Stevens voted Yea. DOE later identified the Inflation Reduction Act as creating the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment category used for utility loan guarantees.
Stevens' official House biography highlights enacted and signature work such as the Building Blocks of STEM Act and CHIPS and Science Act, but does not identify a federal cutoff of funding to rate-raising investor-owned utilities.
Assessments
The promised policy was a federal cutoff of funding to investor-owned utilities that raise residential rates in the first year of the policy period. The evidence shows the opposite: DOE later made large conditional loan-guarantee commitments to DTE Electric and DTE Gas, while Michigan regulators authorized a residential rate increase for DTE Electric shortly afterward and noted a prior 2023 increase. Stevens voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which DOE later used as authority for the utility financing, but that vote did not create the promised cutoff. No evidence shows she enacted or materially advanced a federal funding ban matching the promise.