Organizers say ballot measure is needed to break DTE, Consumers’ influence and improve reliability and affordability for Michigan ratepayers.

Michigan activist groups launched a ballot question drive Monday to prevent DTE Energy, Consumers Energy, and other large companies doing business with the state from contributing to political campaigns.

The move follows years of poor reliability from the utilities, while Michigan customers pay the highest electricity prices in the region.

Representatives for the Michiganders for Money Out of Politics campaign argue utilities have dodged accountability by investing in the political system rather than better service.

“Michigan is a cautionary tale, a state where corporate money has brought political silence and inaction,” Ponsella Hardaway, executive director for the nonprofit MOSES — Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength — said on a Monday press call to announce the proposed ballot measure.

If placed in front of Michigan voters and approved, the ballot measure would ban political contributions from regulated monopolies and companies with government contracts over $250,000, or those seeking such contracts.

The measure includes reporting requirements for dark money nonprofits that show spending on ads that reference a candidate.

The group will need to collect 357,000 signatures to get the issue on the 2026 fall ballot and will use volunteers, said Kim Murphy-Kovalick, senior director of policy and programs with Voters Not Politicians. Organizers said there’s strong, bipartisan support for the measure.

After hearing a description of “take back our power” legislation introduced in 2024, 81% of Michigan voters supported it, while just 9% opposed the bills, according to a 2024 poll from Ann Arbor-based Emma White Research LLC. 90% of Democrats, 84% of Independents, and 66% of Republicans supported the proposal.

State Rep. Jim DeSana (R-Carleton) and Democratic Socialist Rep. Dylan Wegela (D-Garden City) are among the sponsors of a “take back our power” bill package reintroduced April 23 of this year to bar political spending by utilities and other monopolies doing business with the state.

“Whether you’re a card-carrying member of Democratic Socialists of America or a MAGA hat wearing Republican or anything in between, we hope to earn your support … The only thing that beats the power of organized money is the power of organized people,” said Sean McBrearty, Michigan state director for Clean Water Action.