DTE Front Group Launches Misinformation Campaign Against Grassroots Public Power Effort

April 21, 2026

Ann Arbor, Michigan. DTE Energy has launched a massive misinformation campaign against public power. The new industry-funded front group “Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition” started aggressive social media ads and paid canvassing last week. The campaign uses out-of-state donations to spread false conclusions from a DTE-funded study, wildly exaggerating the costs of municipalizing the local electric grid and attempting to mislead Ann Arbor voters during a pro-democratic, grassroots ballot initiative to establish a public power board.

Last week, public power organizers discovered that the “Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition” website under construction, was populated with “expert opinions” against public power – in Clearwater, Florida. A Tampa Bay Times investigation into industry-backed actors found other links between the Clearwater anti-municipalization campaign and those in Maine and Ann Arbor, suggesting a coordinated nationwide effort to discredit public power. The anti-public power campaign in Clearwater has been reported engaging in predatory canvassing tactics, opening the question as to whether or not similar tactics will be used in Ann Arbor.

“Establishing a faux grassroots group to undermine real local organizations like ours, or ‘astroturfing,’ is a deplorable tactic,” said Ann Arbor for Public Power (A2P2) Executive Director Brian Geiringer. “Instead of engaging in open debate, DTE is subverting democracy by using a front group to spread fear and misinformation. We believe Ann Arborites will see through the deception.”

According to campaign disclosures, the Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition’s original mailing address is One Energy Plaza: DTE Energy’s headquarters. The only donations reported in A2REC’s campaign finance filings are multiple $25,000 donations from outside of Ann Arbor – including from the national investor-owned utility lobby in Washington, DC. Its website cites figures from an “independent analysis” by Charles River Associates, when in fact DTE paid entirely for the study. The assumptions behind its cost estimates are largely false, which A2P2 has documented in a point-by-point rebuttal. “As we’ve shown, the real costs of municipalizing are many times lower than the study’s estimate, and nowhere approach a billion dollars, or even half that,” says Geiringer. “The public benefits, in terms of clean energy, greater reliability, and lower rates in the long term, would be enormous. And our current ballot initiative, to establish a public utility governance structure, would cost taxpayers basically nothing.”

A2P2 is now petitioning to place a charter amendment on the November ballot. Approval would set the process for creating in 2028 the utility governing board, with five elected and four appointed members, including one seat reserved for organized labor. Costs would be minimal. A separate future referendum would be necessary for the city utility to acquire DTE’s assets and serve local ratepayers.