Residential Space Heating (Retail Access)-D2
When does peak hit on DTE Electric Company’s Residential Space Heating? The hour never matters here — only the season. Rates peak June–October.
- peak15.54¢
- off-peak14.39¢
What does Residential Space Heating cost a year?
| Household | Uses | Per year | Works out to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment One or two people, no central air, no electric heat | 4,866 kWh | $841 | 17.3¢ / kWh |
| Family home Three or four people with central air conditioning | 9,453 kWh | $1,554 | 16.4¢ / kWh |
| Home with an EV Same house, plus an electric car charging overnight | 13,103 kWh | $2,094 | 16.0¢ / kWh |
Estimates, not quotes. We run three made-up but realistic households through this tariff hour by hour for a full year — including the way air conditioning loads the afternoon and an EV loads the small hours. Your own bill depends on when you actually use electricity, which is exactly the thing a per-kWh number hides.
What you actually pay
| Period | Rate | Applies when |
|---|---|---|
| peak | 15.54¢ up to 17 kWh daily16.75¢ | midnight–midnight, June–October |
| off-peak | 14.39¢ up to 20 kWh daily13.38¢ | midnight–midnight, November–May |
Plus a fixed charge of $9.75 per month.
Should you be on Residential Space Heating?
The hour of day does not change what you pay here — the month does. Running the same house through the full year, July costs about $187 and February about $95. That $92 swing is part rate and part weather, and it is the reason a budget built on your spring bill will break in July.
There is a usage cliff to watch. The first 17 kWh you use each day are billed at 15.5¢; past that line the rate steps up to 16.8¢ — 8% more for every unit after. The last kilowatt-hour of a heavy month is the expensive one, which is why cutting a little off a big month saves more than cutting the same amount off a small one.
Before a single kilowatt-hour moves, this plan charges $117 a year in fixed fees. On the apartment above that is 14% of the whole bill; on the house with a car charging in it, 6%. Fixed charges are invisible in a cents-per-kWh comparison and they punish small users hardest — if you use very little electricity, the headline rate is the least important number on this page.
How it compares to DTE Electric’s other plans
Measured against the other residential plans this utility files, a family home lands 8th cheapest of 14. The cheapest option, Water Heating Service Rate D5 (Delivery Charge Commercial), would run about $849 a year less.
Against Residential Service Rate - (Full Service) - D1, which looks like the plan you land on by default, this one comes out $718 less per year (32%). We infer the default from the tariff structure rather than a flag in the data, so confirm it against your own bill before you switch.
If this is new to you
- What is a baseline allowance? Tiered electricity rates explained
A cheap allowance, then a cliff. Where the cliff sits is the whole game.
- Should you switch to a time-of-use electricity plan?
A wide peak-to-off-peak gap is a lever, not a saving. Levers need something to move.
- Why is my electric bill so high in summer?
Usually three causes at once, and only one of them is your air conditioner.
- How to compare electricity plans without getting it wrong
Six things that break a comparison, and the order to check them in.
Where this comes from
- Effective
- 2026-04-01
the date this tariff took effect
- Covers
- delivery + supply
Generation + Delivery
- Enrollment
- open to new customers
Tariff document: https://www.michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/mpsc/consumer/rate-books/electric/dte/dtee1cur.pdf?rev=e0168ab41b8245bba5f3ca7631c29614