House Republican Floor Leader Bryan Posthumus on Friday issued the following statement after the Michigan Public Service Commission authorized DTE Energy to raise rates on customers by $368 million — a 6.4% increase.

“We tried to warn everyone this would happen, and it sure didn’t take long: the beginning of an era of unprecedented expenses for Michigan families has begun. While the Governor has been saying her Green New Deal would save people money, it only took a couple weeks to prove that to be a lie.” Posthumus said. “Turns out all that pie in the sky is actually pretty expensive; green energy fairy tales don’t pay for themselves. By ratifying this deal, the commission and Governor Whitmer’s administration are telling us exactly who they are and exactly what they want A black hole has been created, pulling in billions of dollars and returning absolutely nothing. And now it is starting to grow.”

DTE specifically petitioned the commission on the basis that it needs this rate increase in part to comply with the state’s wind and solar energy fixation.

“The utility rate hike was announced the same day Governor Whitmer’s population commission released its recommendations on how to grow Michigan’s population.,” Posthumus said. “The irony would be hilarious if it wasn’t so disastrous for the people of Michigan. Democrat policies are driving people from this state by making it more difficult to find a job and more expensive to raise a family. The recipe to grow our population has been demonstrated: Affordable cost of living, safe communities, less red tape for neighborhood job providers, and transformational investment in our urban centers. Instead, Democratic leadership has chosen to make utility costs skyrocket, and entertain tax increases proposed by the ‘population commission.’ They aren’t just shooting from the hip, they are firing a machine gun in the pitch black, and it’s the people are going to pay for it – literally. ”