Detroit Edison

Detroit Edison, founded in 1903, is an investor-owned electric company which serves most of Southeast Michigan. Its parent company, DTE Energy Co., provides energy services to a variety of clients beyond Detroit Edison's service area.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Detroit Edison has been a corporate funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). See ALEC Corporations for more.

History
Detroit Edison was part of a large holding company called North American Edison Company. North American's stock had once been one of the twelve component stocks of the May 1896 original Dow Jones Industrial Average. North American Company was broken up by the Securities and Exchange Commission, following the United States Supreme Court decision of April 1, 1946.

After that Detroit Edison operated independently, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol DTE through the mid 1990s. In early 1996, it became an operating subsidiary of the new holding company, DTE Energy Company, which replaced Detroit Edison Company on the stock exchange, and took over the trading ticker symbol.

Energy transmission
Due to electric utility deregulation in Michigan, DTE Energy was forced to sell off Detroit Edison's sister subsidiary involved in high-voltage energy transmission: International Transmission Co. (ITC).

Energy distribution
Detroit Edison's near 11-gigawatt generating capacity is offered to its 7600 square mile service area, which encompasses 13 counties in the southeastern portion of Michigan's lower peninsula. Energy is distributed throughout Huron County, Tuscola County, Sanilac County, St. Clair County, Lapeer County, Livingston County, Ingham County, Oakland County, Macomb County, Wayne County, Washtenaw County, Lenawee County, and Monroe County, covered by over a million utility poles and 4400 square miles of power lines.

Coal lobbying
Detroit Edison is a member of the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA), an umbrella lobbying group for all coal ash interests that includes major coal burners Duke Energy, Southern Company and American Electric Power as well as dozens of other companies. The group argues that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste.

ACAA set up a front group called Citizens for Recycling First, which argues that using toxic coal ash as fill in other products is safe, despite evidence to the contrary.

Existing Coal Plants
The utility operates eleven fossil-fuel generating plants, and uses fossil fuels (mainly coal) to generate 80-85 percent of its total electrical output, with the bulk of the remainder coming from nuclear power. Here is a list of DTE's coal power plants with capacity over 100 MW that Detroit Edison operates:

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