People Goals

DTE Energy conducts a campaign each fall to solicit pledges from our employees and retirees in support of 36 United Ways (UWs) across Michigan, as well in the Pittsburgh area and Superior, Wisc., for the following year. In 2012, 50 percent of our employees participated, including our union-represented employees who partner with the AFL-CIO Labor Council in their community support.

We survey a representative sample of our utility residential customers each month for our Residential Customer Attitude Survey. Customers who give us a “favorable” rating are considered “satisfied” for the purposes of our customer satisfaction measure. In 2012, our residential customer satisfaction index was at 72 percent. We have set the goal to increase the index to 74 percent by the end of 2013. To help us achieve that goal, we launched a series of programs and initiatives aimed at improving operational excellence, customer communications and employee engagement around customer issues. We are calling back all customers who had a recent interaction with our company to ensure their satisfaction and resolution of their issues. In addition to resolving any outstanding issues, we gather input from these customers to continuously improve our operations. We are going door to door in many of our urban neighborhoods to show our customers what they can do to increase energy efficiency and lower their energy bills. We also are reaching out to our communities where customers who have been affected the hardest by Michigan’s high unemployment and sluggish economy to put them in touch with the public and private assistance programs that can help them manage their energy bills. We are expanding our efforts to reach these customers with information on where they can get help.

Under laws that took effect in 2008, Michigan utilities are mandated to implement energy optimization programs to help their customers reduce their electricity and natural gas use. The laws require our utilities, DTE Electric and DTE Gas, to save at least one percent of electric load each year and 0.75 percent of gas retail sales by 2012. However, we have set goals and established plans for 2010 so that we will exceed the legislated targets by 48 percent at DTE Electric and 42 percent at DTE Gas. For 2010, our goals are to help our customers save 337,537 MWh of electricity and 611,772 Mcf of natural gas. We have initiated a variety of programs to help our residential, commercial and industrial customers reduce their use. These include rebates and other incentives for customers who buy Energy Star appliances and lighting, dispose of less energy-efficient appliances, weatherize their homes and businesses, have energy audits completed, follow energy-efficiency guidelines for new construction, and more. We also are going door to door in our low-income customers’ neighborhoods to show customers what can be done to reduce their energy use and lower their bills, and partnering with retailers to offer incentives on energy-efficient light bulbs.