The Metro: Rep. Debbie Dingell on data centers, rising bills and who can actually lower them
Michigan’s cost of living is climbing — electricity, fuel, health insurance. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell joins The Metro to discuss who actually controls those numbers and what she wants to require of the data centers coming to her district.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss lowering costs for Michiganders and what Democrats can realistically do about it if they win in November.
Democrats are running on the cost of living, and they want Congress back on Nov. 3. But what would a Democratic majority actually change?
As local fights over data centers intensify, spurring concerns about utility rate increases, state regulators let DTE Energy raise electric rates in March, adding about $5 a month to a typical residential bill. In May, Consumers Energy customers absorbed the biggest electric rate increase Michigan has approved since 2004, the company’s second in a year.
Meanwhile, the Iran war has pushed gas prices in Michigan to $4.62 a gallon, and diesel $6.48, which is raising grocery costs.
For people who buy their own health insurance, what they pay each month jumped 58% this year.
Those decisions were made miles from many Michigan living rooms. They were made in Lansing, in Washington, and — in the case of diesel — on a phone call between President Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Dingell on what to do about
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell represents Michigan’s 6th district — that includes Washtenaw County and parts of Wayne and Oakland counties. Two of the largest data centers proposed in Michigan are going up in her district: a $7 billion campus in Saline Township and a one-gigawatt Google project in Van Buren Township, where local leaders vote on the final site plan Wednesday. She also chairs the committee that writes the House Democrats’ message, three weeks before an election.
She joined host Robyn Vincent to talk about data centers, guardrails on artificial intelligence, tariffs, the war in Iran, and the question underneath all of it: who actually has the power to lower a Michigan family’s bills?
Hear the full conversation using the media player above.
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