and dte gas company’s

March 21, 2019

Kavita Kale

Executive Secretary

Michigan Public Service Commission

7109 West Saginaw Highway

Lansing, MI 48917

Re: In the matter, on the commission’s own motion, to require DTE

ELECTRIC COMPANY and DTE GAS COMPANY to show cause why

these companies should not be found in violation of the Consumer Standards

and Billing Practices for Electric and Natural Gas Service, R 460.101 et seq.

MPSC Case No. U-20084

Dear Ms. Kale:

Attached for electronic filing in the above referenced matter is DTE Electric Company’s

and DTE Gas Company’s Semi Annual Report regarding consecutive estimations pursuant to

Section 2 of the Settlement Agreement in Case U-20084.

Very truly yours,

Andrea Hayden

AH/lah

Encl.

cc: Service List

DTE Electric Company

One Energy Plaza, 1635 WCB Detroit, MI 48226-1279

Andrea Hayden

(313) 235-3813

[email protected]

U-20084Semi-Annual ReportConsecutive Estimates

April 1, 2019

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Executive Summary

• This filing complies with Section 2 of the Settlement Agreement in Case U-20084 which states:

“DTE shall file semi-annual reports in this docket for two years containing the following information:

(i) the number of customers who were consecutively estimated for 3 to 6 months, 7 to 9 months, 10 to 12 months, and over 12 months, and the reason that consecutive estimations were required;

(ii) the total number of customers communicated with under the proposed communication and escalation process.

All reports required to be filed under this paragraph shall be submitted on the first Monday in April and on the first Monday in October until the final required filing is submitted in October 2020.“

2

Consecutive Estimates (CE)

• Meters that fail to communicate usage data to DTE and therefore result in an estimated bill sent to the customer

• In some cases, this issue is compounded by the inability of DTE to access customer premises (CGI) to solve the meter issue and / or obtain manual reads

3

Problem Statement and

Scope

• Customers with no CGI issue will not receive an estimated bill for three or more consecutive months

• The current backlog of customers who have been receiving estimated bills for three or more months will be fully eliminated and maintained at zero, excluding customer access issues

DTE commitment on Service Level

Standard

• As an immediate mitigation, all non-communicating meters without customer access issues will be visited by manual meter readers to attempt obtain a meter reading

• Technology solutions are being worked and additional field resources are being added to eliminate the root cause of the meter issue

• CGI locations will continue to be worked with communication to customers

Mitigation initiatives and

Countermeasures

Consecutive Estimates

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Consecutive Estimates - metrics

Consecutive Estimate Backlog(3 or more months of CE as of February Month End)11,734

6,093

420

Billing Backlog

01/2019 Backlog

Net Resolved YTD

February 2019

Backlog

-1,169CGI February

2019Backlog

(excl. CGI & Billing)

-5,641

-4,504

Consecutive Estimate Backlog Burndown

17,081

6,093

10/21 11/04 12/3011/18 01/2712/02 12/16 01/13 02/10 02/24

Confirmed CGI4,504

Consecutive Estimate Aging

Comments

5,470

1,687949

2,1873,295

887 5791,332

3-6 months 7-9 months >12 months10-12 months

CGI: 68% 80% 80% 83%

Resolve Target Resolve Actual

• GFO/EFO visit: 87• AMI Ops/Engineering: 110• Special Reading: 86• Billing Pending SO: 137

January Month End February Month End• Billing backlog consists of 257 theft and 321 billing not

cleared.• Developed a CE resolution process map with key

stakeholders and established service level standards which will address and resolve 2-month estimates within 30 days.

• Designed a throwback process for non-communicating AMI meters to send read requests to Meter Reading to avoid a second consecutive estimate. The required system enhancement is scheduled for implementation in late April.

4


1

Consecutive Estimates ≥ 3 MonthsData Overview

6,093 consecutively estimated meters equals 0.15% of total meters.5


1

Consecutive Estimates ≥ 3 MonthsData Overview: AMI Electric

6


1

Consecutive Estimates ≥ 3 MonthsData Overview: AMI Gas

7


1

Consecutive Estimates ≥ 3 MonthsData Overview: Non-AMI

8


1

Consecutive Estimates ≥ 3 MonthsData Overview

9

Inflow/Outflow 2018 Jan-19 Feb-19New CE's 101,291 7,545 6,332Resolved CE's 129,794 7,552 11,688


1

Consecutive Estimates ≥ 3 MonthsCurrent Status of CEs by Causes

10* Includes ‘Billing not Cleared’ (321) and ‘Theft’ (257).


1

11

Consecutive Estimates ≥ 3 MonthsWhat we’ve done, What we’ve learned and What’s next

What we’ve done

Created a CE resolution process that includes established SLAs. Designed and implemented a process for automating the field collection of 2-month CEs. Improved analysis and resolution of meter issues by AMI Operations. Improved MRO Fulfillment Percent metric. Completed nearly 20k meter maintenance Service Orders.

What we’ve learned

Real time reporting does not exist but is required. System issues are impacting a seamless transaction. Further automation is available with new understanding of SAP inner logic. More visibility is needed for dispatching Special Meter Reading.

What’s next

Develop an automated CE dashboard to enable availability of real time data. Implement system and process improvements to support a reduction in the number of CEs

created and more efficient processing of those that are created.


1

Consecutive Estimates ≥ 3 MonthsEscalated Communication Plan

12

Type of Communication Letter ID Communication Counts(1/1/2019 - 2/28/2019) Description

MRGA1 1,451 Sent on the third consecutive estimate for Non-AMI meters

MRGA2 1,429 Sent on the fifth consecutive estimate for Non-AMI meters

MRGA7 4,146 Sent on the third consecutive estimate for AMI meters

MR5 1,145 Manual Letter 1 for non-AMI meters

MR6 0 Manual Letter 2 for non-AMI meters

MR11 1,652 Manual Letter 1 for AMI meters

MR12 0 Manual Letter 2 for AMI meters

Posting 0 Third request for actual read with final ten-day notice for cut due to no access

CE Team 989 Outreach call by CE Team to resolve access issues

MOD 883 Message on Demand

11,695

Outbound Calls

Total

Consecutive Estimate System Generated Letters

Consecutive Estimate Manual Letters

Manual Letter IDs MR5 and MR11 were sent during the month of February. Manual Letter IDs MR6 and MR12 will be progressing on March 22 and expect to be completed by April 12. The Posting process will commence during the final week of April.


1

and dte gas company’s

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