DTE Energy Facing Oversight of “Hardship-Inducing” Debt Collection Practices

The Michigan Public Service Commission this month ordered DTE to start reporting information about debt sales every year. The utility, however, fended off an effort to end the practice altogether, according to commission documents.

In response to the decision, Chris Lamphear, DTE’s head of corporate communications, said in an email, “We will share information with the Commission on the timetable they request, though we have no plans for a sale at this time.”

A 2022 investigation by Outlier Media and ProPublica detailed how DTE sold customer debt from closed accounts for pennies on the dollar over a period of nine years. Jefferson Capital Systems, a company that bought the debt, has sued Detroiters, garnished paychecks and income tax returns and put liens on homes. The last time DTE sold debt, Outlier and ProPublica found, was 2017.