Michigan

4 Michigan cities to pay highest heat bills in US — but there’s good news

Published

2 years ago

January 3, 2024

4 Michigan cities to pay highest heat bills in US — but there’s good news

December was relatively mild, but Michiganders are painfully aware that it’s time to crank up the thermostat — though this year’s forecast comes with a mix of good and bad news for the Mitten State.

On the upside: Your average heating bill is expected to drop by about 21% — or $27 a month — due to projected milder temps in Michigan, a drop in natural gas prices and other factors.

The downside: Folks in Michigan are still expected to pay among the highest heating bills in the country, according to multiple studies, including one that gives our state an unflattering bragging point. Out of the nation’s top 25 most expensive cities to heat a home in the winter, four are in Michigan: Flint, Detroit, Dearborn and Southfield, with Lansing not far away at No. 32. Warren is 33rd and Sterling Heights 34th.

That’s according to a new study by HVAC Gnome, an online referral service for the HVAC industry that ranked heating expenses in America’s 500 largest cities based on multiple criteria, including: gas prices, average monthly electricity and gas bills, periods of extreme cold, the average size of homes, local energy-efficiency metrics, and share of homes built before 2000. The study used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Energy, Green Building Information Gateway, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among other sources.

Springfield, Missouri, topped the list as the most expensive city to heat, followed by Cleveland.

Here’s how Michigan cities stacked up:

Flint, fourth
Detroit, 10th
Dearborn, 20th
Southfield, 22nd
Lansing, 32nd
Warren, 33rd
Sterling Heights, 34th
Farmington, 66th
Wyoming, 75th
Livonia, 85th
Rochester, 89th
Grand Rapids, 107th
Troy, 109th
Ann Arbor, 142nd

Old houses, long winters

Richie Bernardo, author of the HVAC Gnome study, explained why so many Michigan cities ended up on this expensive-heating-bill list, despite our state having the eighth lowest natural gas prices in the country.

It’s our large inventory of big old houses.

“Despite the affordability of natural gas across Michigan, the state’s older, less energy-efficient homes and longer, colder winters, unfortunately, mean residents have to turn up the thermostat for relatively longer periods of time,” Bernardo said, noting nine of the 15 Michigan cities cited in the study have among the highest percentages of homes built before 2000.

That’s when states began adopting modern residential energy codes.

For cities like Flint, which had the highest percentage of old homes out of all the nation’s big cities, that’s bad news come wintertime. Ten Michigan cities also placed among the top cities with the highest cold wave risk — on top of already colder winters in Michigan.

How Michigan could reduce heating bills

“Naturally, these factors only crank up energy costs over the course of winter,” Bernardo said, noting more investments in energy-efficient homes could help Michiganders.

For example, wintry cities like New York and Boston have invested heavily in green homes, which is partly why they performed better in the study’s ranking, Bernardo explained.

In comparison to Detroit, which is expected to have the 10th highest heating bills this winter, Boston came in at No. 241, New York City at 309 and Chicago at 103.

While Michigan does have modern, residential energy-efficiency codes, the Department of Energy says our state has amended those codes to older versions. That means new builds in Michigan are currently missing out on significant energy savings promised by the latest version of the codes, Bernardo said, noting progress is being made in some areas.

“Some cities like Grand Rapids and Lansing have taken matters into their own hands by building more LEED- and Energy Star-certified homes,” Bernardo said, noting such homes use between 20% and 60% less energy, while Energy Star-certified homes are at least 10% more efficient than homes built to code.

Housing issues aside, the good news is that Michigan, like the rest of the country, is projected to face lower heating bills this winter — around 20% lower — due to projected milder temps and a larger supply of natural gas. Even residents whose homes are heated with electricity will get a nice break on their home heating bills this winter, too, thanks to the warmer weather.

In Michigan, residents can expect to pay $106 a month for natural gas this winter, compared with $133 a month last year.

That’s according to an analysis of data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Personal finance site MoneyGeek analyzed the EIA data to determine which states can expect to see the highest heating bills this winter.

Cheap natural gas helps

Michigan came in at No. 8. Illinois was No. 1, with a projected monthly heating bill of $133.

DTE Energy, Michigan’s largest utility company, confirmed the federal government’s projected decrease in Michigan heating bills, noting that the price of natural gas this January is $3.75 per 1,000 cubic foot, compared with $4.82 per 1,000 cubic foot last January.

Michigan, which has multiple natural gas providers, including Consumers Energy, also has the eighth-cheapest residential natural gas rates in the country, according to a 2023 Choose Energy Natural Gas Rates Report.

Add to that a milder winter, and residents can expect to see some relief in their pocketbooks.

“Obviously, the weather really does affect how much energy people use during the winter months,” said Rosana Laurain, manager of DTE’s gas marketing department, who sought to explain why Michigan has higher heating bills compared with the rest of the country.

One key reason, she said, is the housing stock.

“We have a lot of older, large homes,” Laurain said. “That definitely affects the bills.”

Tips on lowering your heating bill

So how can Michiganders, despite projections for lower heating bills this winter, pay even less?

Here are some key tips from DTE, HVAC Gnome and the federal government:

Keep your thermostat at 68 during the day. Turn it down 1-2 degrees overnight. Install a programmable thermostat if possible.
Replace your furnace filter at the start of winter. Clean or change it every three months.
Seal air leaks around doors, windows, recessed lights and attic hatches. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, you could save up to 30% on energy costs every year by sealing leaks.
Buy smart power strips. Energy experts say devices continue to draw power even when they appear to be turned off, costing up to $200 a year in wasted energy. You can combat this by regularly unplugging your devices, or letting a smart power strip do the work for you.

Safety tips: Get carbon monoxide detectors

Expenses aside, energy experts also urge customers to use safety measures to protect against gas explosions, and carbon monoxide poisoning.

DTE recommends that carbon monoxide detectors be installed on each floor of your home, though NOT near any gas appliances or next to the furnace.
Have annual inspections of your gas appliances.
NEVER use a stove or oven to heat your house. This is a major fire hazard and can also allow dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide into your home.
If you smell gas, immediately leave the area, go to an area where you can’t smell it — preferably outside — and call 911.
Make sure to shut off the water that goes to your spigots to prevent pipes from bursting.
Bring your pets inside. Don’t keep them outside too long when it’s cold and make sure their paws are protected from salt.
If you lose heat, go to a warm place, such as local libraries, shopping malls or community centers. There may even be warming centers by you. To find a warming center, go to mi211.org and search “warming centers” with your ZIP code.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

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Michigan

How MSU’s deer vaccine capsules could curb black-legged ticks in Michigan

Published

4 days ago

September 23, 2025

Press Room

How MSU’s deer vaccine capsules could curb black-legged ticks in Michigan

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Black-legged ticks have been increasing across Michigan this summer, raising concerns about tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease.

—> Michigan health officials alarmed by surge in Lyme disease cases

Researchers at Michigan State University say the large white-tailed deer population plays a key role in spreading these ticks.

To address the problem, MSU scientists are testing food capsules containing biomarkers to see if deer will eat them.

Each capsule currently includes corn, alfalfa, molasses, and a biomarker that helps track how many deer consume the capsules.

If successful, the capsules will eventually contain a vaccine to help deer build immunity to ticks, similar to how dogs are vaccinated.

The goal is to reduce the number of ticks on deer, which could lower the risk of tick-borne diseases for people spending time outdoors.

MSU professors describe this as an innovative method that could be a game-changer for controlling black-legged ticks and Lyme disease in Michigan. The capsules are being introduced in selected parks and land preserves in the Mid-Michigan area as part of the early phase of this research.

In the future, the team plans to add a drug or vaccine to the capsules to eliminate ticks on deer, aiming to stop the problem at its source.

—> 4 ways to protect yourself from ticks in Michigan, and 4 things to do after you’re outside

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Michigan

Trump administration renews push to fire Fed governor from Michigan ahead of key vote

Published

2 weeks ago

September 14, 2025

Press Room

Trump administration renews push to fire Fed governor from Michigan ahead of key vote

Alan Suderman
| Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration renewed its request Sunday for a federal appeals court to let him fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, a move the president is seeking ahead of the central bank’s vote on interest rates.

The Trump administration filed a response just ahead of a 3 p.m. Eastern deadline Sunday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing that Cook’s legal arguments for why she should stay on the job were meritless. Lawyers for Cook argued in a Saturday filing that the Trump administration has not shown sufficient cause to fire her, and stressed the risks to the economy and country if the president were allowed to fire a Fed governor without proper cause.

Sunday’s filing is the latest step in an unprecedented effort by the White House to shape the historically independent Fed. Cook’s firing marks the first time in the central bank’s 112-year history that a president has tried to fire a governor.

“The public and the executive share an interest in ensuring the integrity of the Federal Reserve,” Trump’s lawyers argued in Sunday’s filing. “And that requires respecting the president’s statutory authority to remove governors ‘for cause’ when such cause arises.”

Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has accused Cook of signing separate documents in which she allegedly said that both the Atlanta property and a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, also purchased in June 2021, were both “primary residences.” Pulte submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department, which has opened an investigation.

Trump relied on those allegations to fire Cook “for cause.”

Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, referred to the condominium as a “vacation home” in a loan estimate, a characterization that could undermine claims by the Trump administration that she committed mortgage fraud. Documents obtained by The Associated Press also showed that on a second form submitted by Cook to gain a security clearance, she described the property as a “second home.”

Cook sued the Trump administration to block her firing and a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.

The administration appealed and asked for an emergency ruling just before the Fed is set to meet this week and decide whether to reduce its key interest rate. Most economists expect they will cut the rate by a quarter point.

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Michigan

Michigan football vs. Central Michigan: Live updates, score, injuries

Published

2 weeks ago

September 13, 2025

Press Room

Michigan football vs. Central Michigan: Live updates, score, injuries

It’s an in-state matchup on Saturday, Sept. 13, as Michigan football (1-1) takes on the Central Michigan Chippewas (1-1) for the Wolverines’ second home game of the season.

After a loss on the road at Oklahoma last week in which Michigan struggled to generate offense, the Wolverines — and particularly freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood — are looking to sharpen their offensive skills against a weaker Chippewas.

They’ll have to do so without coach Sherrone Moore, however. The coach is serving the first of a two-game suspension sanctioned by the school for his role in the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal. In the interim, Biff Poggi will lead the Wolverines.

Michigan’s task will be to hone its skills on both sides of the ball, but with an emphasis on offense. The Wolverines struggled to run the ball last week and Underwood had difficulty connecting with receivers downfield as well. Central Michigan provides a perfect opportunity for Michigan to build its offensive cohesiveness before beginning Big Ten play.

Follow along below for live updates.

Michigan football vs. Central Michigan early availability report

Michigan – Out: QB Davis Warren (knee), OT Andrew Babalola (knee). Probable: DB Rod Moore (knee), DB Shamari Earls (undisclosed), DB Caleb Anderson (undisclosed). Questionable: TE Marlin Klein (right foot/ankle), DB Zeke Berry (lower body), RB John Volker (undisclosed), LB Jaydon Hood (undisclosed), RB Bryson Kuzdzal (undisclosed), RB Donovan Johnson (undisclosed), edge Devon Baxter, DT Ike Iwunnah (undisclosed), WR C.J. Charleston (undisclosed). Doubtful: OL Gio-EL Hadi (left ankle/foot)

Central Michigan – Missed Week 2: TE Rory Callahan, OL John Iannuzzi.

Matchup: No. 22 Michigan (1-1) vs. Central Michigan (1-1)

Kickoff: Noon Saturday, Sept. 13; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.

TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WCSX-FM (94.7).Looking for a free mini puzzle? Play the USA TODAY Quick Cross now.

Line: Wolverines by 27½.

Michigan football schedule 2025

Week 1: W, 34-17 vs New Mexico.

Week 2: L, 13-24 at Oklahoma

Week 3: vs Central Michigan, Saturday Sept. 13, noon ET (Big Ten Network).

Week 4: at Nebraska, Saturday Sept. 20, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS).

Week 5: BYE.

Week 6: vs Wisconsin, Saturday Oct. 4, 12 p.m. or 3:30 p.m.

Week 7: at USC, Saturday Oct. 11, time TBD.

Week 8: vs Washington, Saturday Oct. 18, time TBD.

Week 9: at Michigan State, Saturday Oct. 25, time TBD.

Week 10: vs Purdue, Sautrday Nov. 1, time TBD.

Week 11: BYE.

Week 12: at Northwestern, Saturday Nov. 15, time TBD.

Week 13: at Maryland, Saturday Nov. 22, time TBD.

Week 14: vs Ohio State, Saturday Nov. 29, noon ET (Fox).

Contact Matthew Auchincloss at mauchincloss@freepress.com.

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