Farmington Hills City Council will hear from a DTE Energy representative and receive a data center briefing at a 5:30 p.m. study session Monday, Sept. 14.

The DTE appearance comes after severe storms on Sept. 3 knocked out power for more than 260,000 customers across Southeast Michigan, according to ClickOnDetroit. Some residents were still without power days later. The city's own website still carries a storm-recovery banner noting that the Department of Public Works is clearing public debris.

It is the second time since July that DTE reliability has come before the council. At the July 13 meeting, Councilmember Aldred reported receiving emails from frustrated residents after outages that stretched from July 3 through July 9. DTE had attributed about 70 percent of outage issues generally to trees, Aldred said at the time, leaving roughly a third tied to the electrical system itself.

"I remained unconvinced that sufficient overall progress had been made," Aldred said at the July 13 meeting.

The study session agenda does not name the DTE representative who will appear. It also lists an update from the Director of Special Services and the data center presentation, though neither presenter is identified.

Data centers in focus

The data center briefing follows months of council discussion about whether and how to regulate the facilities in Farmington Hills. A zoning ordinance audit completed in April by Carlisle Wortman Associates flagged the absence of data center provisions as a gap, according to city study session minutes. Under the current code, data centers are a permitted use only in the LI-1 light industrial zone, with no specific standards.

At a Feb. 11 goals session, Mayor Rich noted the city already has one data center in its industrial area and suggested creating an ordinance to control where new ones could go. Councilmember Knol pushed back, arguing that smaller centers use closed-loop water systems and are not harmful. Councilmember Bridges urged the council to weigh both water and electrical demands. The council agreed to gather more information before acting.

State Sen. Rosemary Bayer reinforced the urgency at the July 13 meeting, warning that a single hyperscale data center could consume about 1.4 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power roughly one million Michigan homes. Bayer told the council that a community may be unable to block a project that meets existing ordinance requirements, even if officials and residents oppose it.

Warren's City Council unanimously approved a 12-month data center moratorium on Aug. 25, joining Sterling Heights and Utica in temporarily halting development, according to C&G News. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has opposed a statewide moratorium.

Rate hike looms

The DTE conversation also unfolds against a pending rate increase. DTE filed a $474.3 million rate hike request with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) in April. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed testimony on Aug. 28 asking the commission to cut the request by 71 percent, capping the increase at $134.5 million, according to Hoodline. The Oakland County Board of Commissioners has voted to formally intervene in the case.

DTE has said its two data center contracts will contribute nearly $9 billion toward improving its electric system through 2045, according to a DTE Energy newsroom announcement. The company has offered to pause future rate hike requests for at least two years if the current increase is approved and an Oracle-backed data center in Saline Township opens by late 2027. A final MPSC decision on the rate case is expected in early 2027.

The study session is open to the public at City Hall, 31555 W. Eleven Mile Road. A regular council session follows the same evening.