Great Lakes Energy rates, bills and the 2025 outage year

20.32¢ per kWh in 2025, and why there is no newer figure

Great Lakes Energy Cooperative is a member-owned electric cooperative with 2.8% of Michigan's residential customers on its lines in 2025, against 46.6% for DTE Energy and 37.3% for Consumers Energy. Its 123,277 residential members paid an average of 20.32¢ per kWh¹ that year.

That figure is average revenue per kWh: all residential charges divided by all residential kWh. It folds in the fixed monthly charge, cost adjustments and any surcharges, so it does not match any single line of the cooperative's rate schedule, and a home that uses little electricity pays more per kWh on average than one that uses a lot.

It is also the latest official figure for this cooperative. EIA's monthly survey of utilities (EIA-861M) covers a sample, and Great Lakes Energy is not in it, so the 12-month and latest-month averages shown for Consumers Energy and DTE Energy do not exist for it. A more recent per-kWh figure for Great Lakes Energy, wherever it is printed, does not come from EIA. The next annual data come in August 2027.

On the 2025 figure, Great Lakes Energy was the 4th highest of the 19 Michigan utilities with 10,000 or more residential customers, 1.4% above the Michigan average. Among the 177 US utilities with 100,000 or more residential customers it ranked 33rd highest of 177; their median was 15.07¢ per kWh¹.

A cooperative priced like an investor-owned utility

Nationally, cooperative members pay less on average than customers of investor-owned utilities. In 2025 the residential members of all US cooperatives paid 14.10¢ per kWh and customers of investor-owned utilities 17.78¢ per kWh. Great Lakes Energy's average of 20.32¢ per kWh was 44.1% above the national average for electric cooperatives¹.

Inside Michigan, cooperatives and investor-owned utilities are much closer. Michigan's cooperatives together averaged 19.16¢ per kWh in 2025, its investor-owned utilities 20.34¢ per kWh and its public power utilities 16.46¢ per kWh¹. Great Lakes Energy sat above the cooperative average and close to the investor-owned one.

Investor-owned utilities20.34¢

Electric cooperatives19.16¢

Public power (municipal, districts, state)16.46¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Bundled (full-service) residential revenue divided by kWh, summed over every utility of each type (EIA-861 2025). Small utilities filing the short form report no residential split and are not included.

Show the numbers

Type	¢/kWh	Residential customers
Investor-owned utilities	20.34¢	3,956,494
Electric cooperatives	19.16¢	289,820
Public power (municipal, districts, state)	16.46¢	210,719

Against Michigan's other three utilities with 100,000 or more homes, the cooperative's 2025 average fell between DTE Energy's and Consumers Energy's:

The range among all Michigan utilities with 10,000 or more residential customers is much wider than among these four: from 11.43¢ per kWh at City of Holland to 27.98¢ per kWh¹ at Upper Peninsula Power Company in 2025.

The bill rose faster than the price

The average monthly bill went from $117.09 in 2024 to $128.38 in 2025, +9.6%. Two things added to it: the average price rose 6.0%, from 19.17¢ per kWh to 20.32¢ per kWh, and use per home went from 611 kWh² to 632 kWh¹ a month. Michigan's average residential price rose 3.8%³ over the same two years and its average bill +6.6%⁴.

Use per home is low: Great Lakes Energy's 632 kWh a month is close to the Michigan average of 635 kWh, and Michigan's use per home was the 9th lowest among the states in 2025. So a price 44.1% above the national average for electric cooperatives produced an average bill of $128.38¹, close to the Michigan average of $127.17⁴.

For Michigan as a whole, EIA's monthly data show prices still rising in 2026: the state's residential average for the 12 months September 2025 to August 2026 was 21.28¢ per kWh, +8.0%⁵ on the 12 months before, with 2026 months preliminary. That is a statewide figure dominated by DTE and Consumers; it says nothing specific about the cooperative.

Rates set by the cooperative's board

Great Lakes Energy's rates are not set in Michigan Public Service Commission rate cases. The commission's electric rate books page lists it among the cooperatives with member-regulated rates. Under the Electric Cooperative Member-Regulation Act of 2008, a cooperative's board may take over rate-setting from the commission; the rates must reasonably reflect the cost of service and be uniform within each class, changes must be published in advance, and members can vote to overturn the board's decision to be member-regulated. The commission keeps jurisdiction over matters such as safety and interconnection.

For a household this means a rate increase shows up as a board decision and a notice from the cooperative, not as a commission order, and the current charges are in Great Lakes Energy's own rate schedules. The guide to rate increases explains how such changes reach the average price.

The 2025 outage year

Great Lakes Energy's members averaged 4,401 minutes without power in 2025 when all events are counted, more than the Michigan average of 672 minutes, and had 4.09 interruptions each. Michigan itself had the 2nd highest⁶ outage time per customer among the states that year.

Almost all of those minutes came on major event days, the days of unusually widespread outages that utilities report separately under the IEEE 1366 standard. Excluding them, the average was 315 minutes, against a Michigan figure of 160 minutes⁶.

DTE Energy (MI)192

Consumers Energy (MI)819

Indiana Michigan Power (MI)932

Great Lakes Energy (MI)4,401

Source: EIA-861 2025, reliability. EIA-861 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh is all charges divided by kWh; it is not a tariff rate.

Show the numbers

Utility	outage minutes per customer (all events)
DTE Energy (MI)	192
Consumers Energy (MI)	819
Indiana Michigan Power (MI)	932
Great Lakes Energy (MI)	4,401

The year included the ice storm that hit northern Michigan from March 28, 2025. The Michigan Public Service Commission described it as causing catastrophic damage to power grids and leaving almost all customers without power in a number of Northeast Lower Michigan counties, Great Lakes Energy's among them. EIA's reliability data give one annual total and do not split major event days by storm. The commission's automatic bill credits for long outages were announced for customers of MPSC-regulated utilities.

Smart meters and rooftop solar

Advanced meters made up 100.0% of Great Lakes Energy's residential meters in 2025; they record use by the hour. Rooftop solar is less common than on the two large investor-owned systems: 546 net-metered residential installations with 4.0 megawatts of capacity, 4.4 per 1,000 members, against 7.2 at Consumers Energy and 5.6⁷ at DTE. The net metering guide explains how solar credits work.

From Allegan to the Straits: a shared territory

EIA's service-territory records place Great Lakes Energy in 26⁸ counties of the northern and western Lower Peninsula, from Allegan, Barry and Kent in the south to Emmet and Cheboygan at the northern tip. In every one of them at least one other utility also reports customers, so the county or town does not settle who serves a home. The cooperative's service map does, by address.

Great Lakes Energy onlyGreat Lakes Energy and other utilitiesOther utilities

Source: EIA-861 2025, service territory; Census Bureau, Cartographic boundary file, counties. EIA-861 2025 service territory: 26 counties. Counts whole counties even where the utility serves only part of one; check the utility's own service-area map for an address.

Show the numbers

County	Other utilities reporting service
Allegan County	Consumers Energy, Indiana Michigan Power, City of Holland, City of South Haven
Antrim County	Consumers Energy
Barry County	Consumers Energy, Tri-County Electric Cooperative
Charlevoix County	Consumers Energy, City of Charlevoix
Cheboygan County	Consumers Energy, Presque Isle Electric & Gas Cooperative
Clare County	Consumers Energy, Tri-County Electric Cooperative
Crawford County	Consumers Energy
Emmet County	Consumers Energy, Presque Isle Electric & Gas Cooperative, City of Petoskey, City of Harbor Springs
Grand Traverse County	Consumers Energy, Cherryland Electric Cooperative, City of Traverse City
Kalkaska County	Consumers Energy, Cherryland Electric Cooperative
Kent County	Consumers Energy, City of Lowell
Lake County	Consumers Energy
Manistee County	Consumers Energy, Cherryland Electric Cooperative
Mason County	Consumers Energy
Mecosta County	Consumers Energy, Tri-County Electric Cooperative
Missaukee County	Consumers Energy
Montcalm County	DTE Energy, Consumers Energy, Tri-County Electric Cooperative
Montmorency County	Consumers Energy, Presque Isle Electric & Gas Cooperative, Alpena Power Co
Muskegon County	Consumers Energy
Newaygo County	Consumers Energy
Oceana County	Consumers Energy, City of Hart Hydro
Osceola County	Consumers Energy, Tri-County Electric Cooperative
Oscoda County	Consumers Energy, Presque Isle Electric & Gas Cooperative
Otsego County	Consumers Energy, Presque Isle Electric & Gas Cooperative
Ottawa County	Consumers Energy, City of Holland, City of Grand Haven, City of Zeeland
Wexford County	Consumers Energy, Cherryland Electric Cooperative

Businesses, all customers and help with bills

The cooperative's 11,589 commercial accounts paid an average of 17.53¢ per kWh in 2025, with an average monthly bill of $241.23, and its 279 industrial accounts 9.94¢ per kWh. Across all 135,145 accounts the average was 16.67¢ per kWh¹.

Michigan received $183.3 million¹⁰ in federal LIHEAP energy assistance for fiscal 2026; the help paying guide explains how to apply. Every utility in the state is on the Michigan electricity page.