DTE Energy history

In 1904, Detroit Edison signed its first power contract with an automobile company — the Cadillac Motor Car Co.

In 1905, a majority of the Detroit City Gas Co. was acquired by the American Light & Traction Co., a holding company that controlled utility and transportation interests stretching from Grand Rapids to Milwaukee.

On July 24, 1906, the company formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Eastern Michigan Edison Company and transferred all the Huron River companies to it as subsidiaries.

By 1907 it had become obvious that the company had to add more turbines, and construction began on a second power station at Delray to house a turbine capable of generating station/house 14,000 kilowatts of energy.

Charles W. Wetmore became the company's first president and remained in that position until 1912.

Under Dow’s leadership, not only had generating capacity and service area expanded, but Detroit Edison had developed its own engineering research department, founded in 1913, and improved customer service.

In 1922 Detroit Edison completed its first in suburban Marysville.

Detroit Edison put its second at Trenton Channel in Trenton in July 1924.

The following year the industry was deregulated when Congress repealed the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, which had allowed utility companies such as Detroit Edison to operate as monopolies.

In 1940 Alex Dow retired as company president.

When Parker retired in 1951, Cisler took over as president and general manager.

Detroit Edison added the St Clair Power Plant in 1954 — one of the largest power plants in the world at the time.

It was formally organized in 1955, with 34 companies participating, as the Power Reactor Development Company (PRDC), which owned and operated the Enrico Fermi Power Plant.

In 1956, Detroit Edison broke ground for the Enrico Fermi Power Plant and also began work on the River Rouge Power Plant.

With its assets growing so rapidly, Detroit Edison authorized a two-for-one common stock split in December 1962.

In 1963 Walter McCarthy became general manager of the PRDC, with Cisler continuing as president.

In spite of Walker Cisler’s campaign for constant generating plant growth, demand still threatened to outstrip supply, and so, in 1966, peaking units were introduced into the generating system.

In 1970 the first of the Monroe power plant's coal-fired units went on-line.

It had taken four years to repair the reactor and fuel assemblies at Fermi 1, and when the repairs were completed the plant was only operated on and off for several months, with its last operation being September 22, 1972.

The Ludington Pumped Storage Plant, co-owned by Detroit Edison and Consumers Power Company, also went into service in 1973.

In November of that year the PRDC executive committee decided to decommission the plant as of December 31, 1975.

In 1976 another Meese cost-efficient measure was implemented when the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal was opened by a subsidiary of Detroit Edison.

In 1979, as Fermi 2 was in the midst of construction, the disaster at Three Mile Island hit.

In September 1981 Meese retired and was succeeded by McCarthy as chairman and chief executive officer.

In 1983, Detroit Edison sought to sell its engineering expertise through the creation of Utility Technical Services, later called SYNDECO — Detroit Edison's first subsidiary business.

In 1985 Fermi 2 was completed, and low-power testing began.

With the delays involved in bringing in new plant management and in receiving approval of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Fermi 2 resumed low-power testing in July 1986.

In 1987 Detroit Edison’s wholly owned subsidiary, Washtenaw Energy Corporation, was merged into the company.

In 1988, Primark spun-off MichCon, and the MCN Corp. was established as the parent company of MichCon.

This increase was to be phased in over five years beginning January 1, 1989. It completed its first scheduled shutdown for refueling in December 1989, and it produced more than 5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity during the year.

The company had record revenues and earnings, and in mid-December 1991 its common stock reached $35 per share, the highest price in 25 years.

In late 1992 Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which allowed competition in the utility industry's wholesale sector by mandating existing utilities to transmit electricity generated by other producers through their lines.

The company received yet another setback on Christmas Day 1993, when a turbine generator fire at Fermi 2 caused the high-production plant to close while repairs were made.

DTE Energy was founded on January 1995 and is headquartered in Detroit, MI.“

In January 1996, Detroit Edison reorganized as a holding company — DTE Energy. “DTE” was selected because it was the existing stock ticker symbol for Detroit Edison.

These capital costs would also diminish as a result of debt refinancing through the Michigan Legislature's approval of the issuance rate-reduction bonds in mid-1997.

On May 31, 2001 DTE Energy and MCN Energy Group completed a merger which created Michigan's largest energy company and a premier regional energy provider.

In 2007, DTE Energy began acquiring wind development rights on more than 100,000 acres of land in the Thumb area.

The first DTE Energy-owned and constructed wind parks were commissioned (connected to the grid and generating power) in December 2012.

In 2013, DTE Energy adopted "DTE" as its customer-facing brand.

The DTE Energy Board of Directors declared a $1.0125 per share dividend on its common stock payable July 15, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business June 15, 2020.