Top Tier — Michigan Battery Sales Reference

DTE Electric · Detroit & Southeast Michigan

Sales reference for reps working DTE territory. This is the deep reference — how to sell it up top, full utility detail below. DTE Electric serves roughly 2.3 million customers across Detroit and southeast Michigan — the biggest utility in our northern book. Michigan's design is inflow/outflow: everything you draw bills at full retail (~17.6 cents all-in plus power-supply cost recovery — among the highest rates we serve), and your outflow credits at a tiered rate — currently 8.765 cents on the first 17 kWh per day and 10.139 on the excess — which since 2024 offsets nearly the whole bill except securitization. The honest per-stored-kilowatt-hour value is roughly 7.5 to 8.8 cents, about $285 a year, and solar customers also carry a DG System Access Contribution of $2.31 per kilowatt-AC per month that this guide puts in the math instead of hiding. Two rules reps must have cold: DTE prohibits battery export under Rider 18 — batteries are self-consumption and backup only, which we disclose and which costs the pitch nothing — and the legacy net-metering cohort (enrolled before May 9, 2019) keeps full 1:1 for ten years from their individual enrollment date, terminating on a home sale. One more correction from this edition: DTE's reliability genuinely improved — the state found top-quartile performance in 2025 — so the storm pitch is history told honestly, not a present-tense insult the customer can refute. The battery here is a spread machine at Michigan's highest rates, a storm backup, and a takeover.

What kind of market this is

DTE is an exposed inflow/outflow market at the highest rates in our northern book — a ~7.5–8.8¢ honest spread (~$285/yr) plus a $2.31/kW monthly DG charge in the honest math, a battery-export prohibition disclosed as configuration, a dated legacy cohort with individual 10-year clocks that die on a home sale, and reliability framed in past tense because the present tense is no longer true. Five defining facts:

1. The mechanics. Inflow bills at full retail; outflow credits at $0.08765/kWh on the first 17 kWh/day and $0.10139 on the excess (Sheet D-115.00, Case U-21534, eff. 2/6/2025) — and since Michigan's 2024 change, outflow credits offset Company electric charges excluding securitization, not just the power-supply line. Monthly netting; credits carry forward indefinitely; no cash-out, non-transferable.
2. The spread is real — and so is the DG charge. Retail ~17.6¢ + PSCR against the ~8.8–10.1¢ outflow credit leaves ~7.5–8.8¢ per stored kilowatt-hour — about $285 a year — and every DG customer pays the System Access Contribution: $2.31 per kW-AC per month (a fixed solar-specific charge; on an 8-kW array that's ~$18.50/month no configuration removes). We put it in the numbers first. The non-bypassable point holds exactly: energy offset is not bill offset, and the battery's value is the non-bypassable slice.
3. Batteries may not export at DTE — period. Rider 18, verbatim: "Export from batteries for Rider 18 connected systems is not permitted." Every install is self-consumption/backup configuration, disclosed — and it costs nothing, because at these mechanics self-consumption is where the value already is. No export or VPP income is ever implied at DTE.
4. The legacy cohort is real, dated, and dies on a move. Customers enrolled in true net metering before May 9, 2019 keep full 1:1 retail crediting for ten years from their individual enrollment date — so the runway is personal: a 2018 enrollee's clock runs to 2028. Capacity expansion voids it, and per the state's own guidance, the status terminates on a home sale — the buyer joins the current DG program. Ask the enrollment year first; it sets the whole conversation.
5. The reliability story flipped — and we flip with it. The old pitch called DTE's grid among the worst for outage duration. The state's February 2026 order found DTE hit top-quartile reliability in 2025 with ~60% outage-time reduction. The honest anchors are historical — the Feb 2023 ice storm (~680,000 DTE-and-Consumers combined) and August 2021 (~1M combined all-utility) — told as history, with the improvement credited. A rep running the stale insult gets corrected by the customer's own recent experience.

Your lead is the spread at Michigan's highest rates, with the SAC and the export rule volunteered. ~$285 a year, honestly netted; the DG charge on the table before the customer finds it; the export prohibition framed as what it is — a configuration rule that matches where the value lives anyway. Legacy customers get the cohort conversation: enrollment year, remaining runway, what the battery covers now and after. Storms close as history plus preparedness, never as a present-tense grid insult.

Default configuration: self-consumption or backup only — export configuration is prohibited by Rider 18. Backup-capable is the strong default in ice-storm country.

• Backup-capable: $18,500 cash / $23,942 financed / ~$228/mo
• Self-consumption-only: $17,000 cash / $22,068 financed / ~$210/mo

Confirm pricing, configuration, cohort (legacy enrollment year vs current DG), and current rates in the tool before quoting.

PART A — The Pitch (Problem → Solution → Urgency → Close)

The spine is multiple beats per section: customer headline + statement + rep layer (+ objection where noted). Beats marked (BACKUP ONLY) render only for backup config; COHORT beats swap by legacy vs current-DG status.

The Problem

You pay the highest rates in our northern book — and your outflow credits back most, not all, of it. (CURRENT-DG COHORT) DTE bills everything you draw at about seventeen and a half cents plus fuel recovery. Your outflow credits at roughly eight point eight to ten cents. And as a solar customer you pay a System Access Contribution — two dollars thirty-one per kilowatt of your array, every month, no matter what. The gap between what you pay and what outflow earns is real money; so is the charge most installers don't mention.

Rep layer: The exposed opener — honest and complete: retail ~17.6¢ + PSCR vs outflow $0.08765/$0.10139 tiered (Sheet D-115.00, eff. 2/6/2025 — the old $0.0775 figure is stale; never use it); spread ~7.5–8.8¢, ~$285/yr; SAC $2.31/kW-AC/mo volunteered first (on 8 kW ≈ $18.50/mo — a fixed solar charge no battery removes; saying it first is the credibility play). Mechanics: monthly netting, indefinite carry-forward, no cash-out, non-transferable; post-2024 credits offset all charges except securitization ("capped at power supply" is the stale version — retired). Objection — "My solar covers my bill." It offsets most of the energy — the SAC and the non-bypassable slice stay, and the outflow haircut runs on every exported kilowatt-hour. The battery narrows it to just the fixed charges.

Your legacy clock is personal — and it doesn't survive a sale. (LEGACY COHORT) You enrolled before May 2019, so you have true one-to-one net metering — for ten years from your enrollment date. If you signed up in 2017, your clock runs to 2027; 2019, to 2029. Two more rules worth knowing exactly: expanding your system voids it, and if you sell the house, the status ends — the buyer joins today's program.

Rep layer: The legacy opener — individualized: ask the enrollment year first; the remaining runway sets everything. Legacy = full 1:1 → NEVER oversell bill savings (the OUC/JEA discipline — their exports already earn retail); honest value = resilience + the personal expiry math (a battery installed now is earning through the runway and fully replacing the credit after) + the dies-on-move rule (the Clay pattern — warning version, told straight) + no-expansion trap (adding panels voids it; a battery adds capability without touching the array's status — confirm configuration doesn't trip the expansion rule per DTE's current interconnection guidance). Objection — "I'm grandfathered, why change anything?" Your clock is real and personal — and the battery is the part of your setup that works during outages now, doesn't reset anything, and carries full value the day the clock runs out.

Your system is orphaned. Whoever installed your solar is likely gone, merged, or unreachable — especially after so many installers folded when the federal tax credit expired at the end of 2025. If something goes wrong, there's no one accountable. You own the system and the risk.

Rep layer: Standard orphaned-system beat. Ask who installed it and whether they'd answer a service call.

Your inverter is on the clock. Your inverter is several years old. When it fails out of warranty, that's about $3,500 to $5,000 out of pocket — and your system produces nothing until it's replaced, typically 4 to 8 weeks.

Rep layer: Standard inverter beat. SolarEdge ~12-yr warranty, real failure 8–15 yrs; Enphase 25-yr, real issues 10–20. Legacy systems are 7+ years old by definition — deep in the failure window.

(BACKUP ONLY) Michigan's ice storms are the deep memory — and your solar shut off through every one. February 2023's ice put roughly six hundred eighty thousand DTE and Consumers customers in the dark, many for most of a week in freezing houses. August 2021's storms hit about a million across the state's utilities. DTE's grid has genuinely improved since — the state confirmed it — and ice is still ice. Grid-tied panels produce nothing in an outage; a battery keeps your critical systems running and recharges from the sun through restoration.

Rep layer: Renders ONLY for backup config. DTE anchors, stated precisely: Feb 2023 ice storm — ~680,000 DTE + Consumers COMBINED (no DTE-only split was published — never invent one); Aug 2021 — ~1M combined ALL-UTILITY (the old "~900K DTE" attribution was wrong — retired). Reliability framing rule: PAST TENSE + credit the improvement — MPSC's Feb 2026 order (U-21860) found DTE top-quartile in 2025, ~60% outage-time reduction; the old "among the worst grids" present-tense line is now checkably false and a customer who lived 2025 knows it. The honest pitch: the history is real, the improvement is real, and ice storms don't read reliability reports.

The Solution

A battery captures the spread — and covers the charges solar can't. (CURRENT-DG) Instead of sending outflow at eight-to-ten cents and buying back at seventeen-plus, the battery stores the surplus and serves your home — capturing the seven-to-nine-cent gap on every stored kilowatt-hour, about two hundred eighty-five dollars a year, at the highest rates in our northern book. (LEGACY) Your one-to-one already earns retail on exports — so the battery's job is everything the clock doesn't cover: outages now, and the full spread the day your personal ten years run out.

• Self-consumption: "The outflow haircut stops applying to power that never leaves — and it's configured exactly the way DTE's rules require anyway."
• Backup: "All of that — and your house stays warm through the next ice storm."

Monthly Cost Chart and Net Bill Breakdown render here.

Rep layer: THE core cure beat — cohort-split. CURRENT-DG = true spread play (~7.5–8.8¢, ~$285/yr; the SAC stays in the with-battery math — honesty is showing it there). LEGACY = NOT a spread play today (1:1 earns retail) — resilience + post-clock positioning + the no-reset fact; never oversell bill savings to a 1:1 customer. Configuration note on every install: self-consumption/backup only — battery export is prohibited by Rider 18; the tool renders zero export value at DTE, and the disclosure fires on every proposal.

(BACKUP ONLY) It keeps your home running when the grid goes down. Powers your essentials — furnace blower and controls, refrigerator, medical devices, connectivity — through an outage, and recharges from solar daily for as long as restoration takes.

Rep layer: The resilience cure beat. Michigan winter honesty: ice-storm outages are heating emergencies — the furnace-circuit framing lands harder than any appliance list; winter sun recharges at reduced rates, so load management and honest duration expectations.

We take it over. Top Tier becomes the single point of contact for your entire system — a new 10-year workmanship warranty, the 5-year Align Solar Protection contract ($0 deductible, non-transferable), and manufacturer warranty coordination.

Rep layer: Answers the orphaned-system problem. Transfers: workmanship with written consent; Align non-transferable; manufacturer per OEM terms.

Thousands you don't pay. The $11K+ Hidden Costs Avoided bundle — built into the takeover, not sold as extras.

Rep layer: Reframes total cost. "Your payment buys the battery plus warranty plus service plus inverter-replacement coverage — over $11K of value."

And whatever the program does next, your stored power is yours. Michigan already rewrote solar compensation once — that's how today's two cohorts exist — and the current outflow rate moves with every rate case. Power you store and use yourself doesn't ride any of it — and at DTE, it's also the only configuration the rules allow, which makes the point for us.

Rate Justification + Own vs Rent render here.

Rep layer: The independence beat — the 2019 transition is the proof that Michigan solar terms change; the outflow value resets through each general rate case (U-21534 landed 2/6/2025; U-21860 approved 2/19/2026 — the standing mechanism). 25-yr scenarios: conservative 4%, moderate 6%, aggressive 8% — anchor near-term to the two back-to-back rate cases (+$217.4M then +$242.4M) rather than the retired "+38%" figure.

Urgency

The honest clocks — rates with docket numbers, ice with a calendar.

The rate clock. DTE has landed two rate increases back to back — $217 million effective last February, another $242 million approved this February — at rates already the highest in our northern book. The outflow credit resets with each case too, in whichever direction the math falls. Every month without a hedge is a month fully exposed on the buy side.

Rep layer: Honest urgency — documented: U-21534 (+$217.4M, +4.65% at 500 kWh, eff. 2/6/2025); U-21860 (+$242.4M, +4.6%, approved 2/19/2026). The retired "+38% since 2018" number stays retired — the two dockets carry the point without an unpinnable figure.

The legacy clock — personal, not manufactured. (LEGACY) Your ten years run from your own enrollment date — for most legacy customers that's somewhere between next year and 2029. I'm not going to panic you about it; you can do the math. The honest note: a battery installed now doesn't touch the clock, works through it, and is fully positioned the day it ends.

Rep layer: The legacy urgency — individualized and anti-manufactured: state their actual year, compute their actual runway, never dramatize. The dies-on-move rule is the sharper honest note for anyone considering selling.

The ice clock. February 2023 put most of a week of freezing dark into hundreds of thousands of Michigan homes. The grid's better now — and ice doesn't check. A battery installed before the next storm is a warm house; one ordered after is a backorder.

Rep layer: Factual, preparedness-framed, improvement credited — the honest version survives the customer's own 2025 experience.

What is NOT a clock: the DG program itself. The old 1% cap is history — Michigan raised it to 10% in 2023 and DTE sits at a fraction of it. Nothing is pending against the program. Any installer running cap-scarcity urgency is selling a deadline that doesn't exist.

Rep layer: The anti-manufacture rule — cap headroom ~87–97%; the 2023 law (PA 235) settled it; the honest clocks are rates, personal legacy runways, and weather.

The Close

1. Verify credit + confirm cohort and configuration. Run the credit check; ask the legacy question — "when did you enroll?" — legacy (pre-5/9/2019, personal 10-year clock) vs current-DG changes the whole pitch. Configuration is self-consumption/backup only (export prohibited by Rider 18).
2. Confirm current rates and the SAC in the tool. The outflow tiers and the $2.31/kW charge are in the math — the tool carries today's figures; never quote from memory.
3. Customer reads and signs the service agreement. Walk through the disclosures honestly — the inflow/outflow mechanics, the SAC, the battery-export prohibition, the legacy rules where they apply (personal clock, expansion voids, terminates at sale), and that there's no federal credit and no open DTE solar program (SolarCurrents is closed to new enrollment).
4. Complete the Welcome Call. Finalizes the sale and sets expectations for installation.

Standing Rules (Do NOT Violate)

• ❌ NEVER coach reps to disqualify based on home tenure. Resale story is real — not "walk away."
• ❌ NEVER claim "all warranties transfer." Workmanship: with written consent. Align: non-transferable. Manufacturer: per OEM terms.
• ❌ NEVER fabricate inspection findings.
• ❌ NEVER quote a bill-reduction factor as a guarantee.
• ❌ NEVER quote a REP buyback rate as fixed/guaranteed — plan-dependent, confirm the customer's actual plan.
• ❌ 85+ confirmation call required. Customer confirms own finances, no POA, sound mind.
• ❌ Financing ends before age 91. 75 → 15-year max. 80 → 10-year max.
• ❌ Honest cancellation window. Overselling = free customer exit + $1K–$1.5K clawback.
• ❌ Certified before selling.

Go get the sale. A battery is a strong product — clean energy, independence, backup, long-term savings, and in Texas real VPP income. A customer who wants one for any honest reason is a good sale. We never walk away over price or low savings — that's the customer's call. Do right by the customer, protect the company, be honest.

PART B — The Deep Reference

1. Orientation

• Utility: DTE Electric — investor-owned, Michigan PSC-regulated, ~2.3 million customers. (Retail choice exists on paper in Michigan but is fully subscribed by commercial users — no residential qualifying question needed.)
• Territory: Detroit and southeast Michigan.
• Market type: EXPOSED inflow/outflow (Rider 18) — outflow $0.08765/$0.10139 tiered; ~7.5–8.8¢ spread (~$285/yr); SAC $2.31/kW-AC/mo; battery export prohibited; legacy cohort (pre-5/9/2019, 10 years from individual enrollment, terminates on move); SolarCurrents closed; no battery program.
• Default config: backup-capable ($18,500 / $23,942 / ~$228); self-consumption ($17,000 / $22,068 / ~$210). Export-capable: not offered at DTE (Rider 18).

2. How the DTE Bill Works

1. Inflow: full retail on everything you draw — service charge $8.50/mo (Rate D1, Sheet D-1.00, eff. 2/6/2025), distribution 8.907¢/kWh (non-bypassable), plus power supply and PSCR — ~17.6¢ all-in + PSCR.
2. Outflow (Rider 18, Sheets D-112–116): credited at $0.08765/kWh on the first 17 kWh/day and $0.10139 on the excess (Sheet D-115.00, U-21534, eff. 2/6/2025); since the 2024 change, credits offset Company electric charges excluding securitization. Monthly netting; credits carry forward indefinitely; no cash-out; non-transferable.
3. The DG System Access Contribution: $2.31 per kW-AC per month — a solar-specific non-bypassable charge (8 kW ≈ $18.50/mo). It's in every projection.
4. The honest spread: ~17.6¢ in minus ~8.8–10.1¢ out ≈ 7.5–8.8¢ per stored kWh (~$285/yr typical) — with the SAC as a fixed floor no configuration removes. The non-bypassable arithmetic: distribution 8.907¢ + $8.50 + SAC stay; roughly 90% energy offset ≈ ~60% bill offset, and we show it that way.
5. Battery rule: export from batteries is not permitted under Rider 18 — self-consumption/backup configuration on every install.

Why this matters for the pitch: DTE is the market where "energy offset ≠ bill offset" is most visible — the SAC and non-bypassable slice are the honest reason a battery's stored-kWh value (~7.5–8.8¢) beats the outflow haircut but can't erase the bill. Showing that math first is what separates us from the installer who hid the SAC.

3. Solar at DTE — Inflow/Outflow, the Export Bar, and the Personal Legacy Clock

Michigan rewrote solar compensation in 2019; DTE's version has three rules reps must carry exactly.

• The program (Rider 18 / MCL 460.1177): inflow at full retail; outflow at the power-supply-derived tiered credit, reset through general rate cases; post-PA-235 (2024) credits offset all charges except securitization. No cash-out, non-transferable, monthly netting.
• THE EXPORT BAR (verbatim): "Export from batteries for Rider 18 connected systems is not permitted." Configuration rule + required disclosure on every install. It costs the pitch nothing — self-consumption is where the mechanics put the value anyway — and it forecloses any VPP-export upside at DTE until the rule changes. Honest silence on VPP.
• THE LEGACY COHORT: enrolled before May 9, 2019 → full 1:1 retail crediting for ten years from the individual enrollment date (MCL 460.1183). Capacity expansion voids it. Transfer at sale: terminates on a move per the state's issue-brief guidance — the buyer joins current DG. The rep move: enrollment year first; runway math second; never oversell bill savings to a 1:1 customer; the dies-on-move rule told straight (the Clay pattern, Michigan edition).
• The cap that isn't: PA 235 of 2023 raised the DG cap from 1% to 10% of average in-state peak load (≥50% reserved for ≤20 kW systems; sizing to 110% of prior usage; 550 kW project max; generation-meter requirement removed). DTE's headroom: ~87–97% remaining — cap-scarcity urgency is an invented deadline; we don't run it.
• Nothing pending: the 2024 changes are implemented (U-21569/U-21534); no docket cuts the outflow rate; values move through rate cases — the standing mechanism, stated as such.
• The rep move (current-DG): "Everything you draw bills at seventeen-plus; your outflow credits at about nine. The battery keeps the surplus at full replacement value — and DTE's own rules require exactly the configuration the math rewards: your power, your house."
• See the "Net Metering & Grandfathering Status" section for the cited detail; the flag for DTE is EXPOSED (inflow/outflow) with a dated legacy cohort (personal 10-year clocks, terminates at sale).

4. Rate Reality + The Honest Spread

What drives the DTE pitch (named, honest):

1. The spread at the highest rates. ~17.6¢ in, ~9¢ out — ~$285/yr, with the SAC shown, not hidden.
2. The two dockets. Back-to-back +$217M and +$242M — the trajectory with citations instead of the retired "+38%."
3. The history plus the improvement. Feb 2023 and Aug 2021 as lived memory; top-quartile 2025 credited — the honest version a customer's own experience confirms.

Documented vs. speculation (say this right):

• ✅ "Outflow credits at eight point seven six five on the first seventeen kilowatt-hours a day, ten point one on the rest — reset each rate case" (current sheet)
• ✅ "As a solar customer you'll pay two thirty-one per kilowatt of array, monthly — it's in our numbers from the start" (SAC, volunteered)
• ✅ "Batteries can't export at DTE — so we configure for your own use, which is where the value is anyway" (Rider 18, verbatim + honest framing)
• ✅ "Your legacy clock runs ten years from your enrollment date, and it ends if you sell" (MCL + brief)
• ✅ "DTE's reliability genuinely improved — the state found top-quartile in 2025. The 2023 ice storm still happened, and ice doesn't read reports" (past-tense rule)
• ❌ Quoting $0.0775 or "capped at power supply" (stale — retired)
• ❌ Hiding the SAC, or claiming ~90% energy offset means ~90% bill offset
• ❌ Pitching SolarCurrents income ($2.40/W / $0.11/kWh — closed program, unconfirmed figures; retired)
• ❌ "Among the worst grids for outage duration" in present tense (contradicted by U-21860)
• ❌ Inventing a DTE-only split of the Feb 2023 (~680K combined) or Aug 2021 (~1M all-utility) counts
• ❌ Cap-scarcity urgency (10% cap, ~90% headroom) or any program deadline

5. Incentives & Programs

• DTE battery/solar programs: none open. SolarCurrents is closed to new enrollment — existing 20-year REC contracts continue for those already in; the old "apply early, $2.40/W + $0.11/kWh" income beat is retired (those figures appear on no current DTE source). SmartCurrents demand response is thermostat-only. No battery VPP or rebate exists — and the export bar would gate any export-based program anyway.
• Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025. Never quote 30%.
• Michigan tax treatment — the dead-letter corrections: no residential solar sales-tax exemption exists, and the property-tax exemption statute has barred new certificates since 1983 (MCL 211.7h(9)) — the old "6% sales-tax exemption + property-tax exemption" copy is wrong on both counts and is retired. (Assessor practice on solar value is separate guidance, not a statutory exemption — we don't promise it.)
• The value is the spread + resilience + the takeover — no-program economics, stated as such.

6. System Rescue Value — The System Takeover

This applies to any customer with existing solar — and it's identical across every Top Tier market. These are takeover facts, not TX-specific.

The Orphaned Solar Customer Problem. Many Texas solar customers installed during the 2019–2024 growth years and now face:

• An original installer that's gone out of business, been acquired, or stopped servicing residential (especially common after the federal tax credit expired Dec 2025)
• A 10-year workmanship warranty that's unenforceable (installer is gone)
• An inverter approaching or past typical failure windows
• No service relationship, and most companies refuse to service systems they didn't install

The Inverter Failure Reality. Inverters are the weakest link. Panels last 25–30 years; the inverter fails much sooner.

• SolarEdge string inverters: 8–15 years (12-yr standard warranty)
• Enphase microinverters: 10–20 years (25-yr warranty)
• Industry-wide: 70–90% of systems experience inverter failure within the panel lifespan
• When it fails on an orphaned system: production stops, bills jump to full retail, most providers won't quote it, out-of-pocket replacement is $3,500–5,000, and the customer is down 4–8 weeks.

What Top Tier's takeover provides (formalized through a Service Warranty Agreement with a brand-new 10-year Limited Workmanship and Roof Penetration Warranty):

• A new 10-year Top Tier workmanship warranty (regardless of system age)
• Manufacturer warranty claim handling (Top Tier chases the claim + labor, not the customer)
• Inverter replacement coverage when it fails within manufacturer warranty (customer pays nothing for the work)
• Single point of contact; monitoring setup help; performance verification at inspection

The $11K System Takeover Bundle (the exact 5-tile bundle on the proposal):

How to use it: "On top of the bill math, you're picking up over $11K of bundled services that aren't sold separately. If your inverter fails in year 12, the warranty handling alone is worth a few hundred; the replacement coordination saves $3–5K; the Align contract is $1,500 you'd otherwise pay. It adds up."

Align Solar Protection — the terms (get these right):

• 5-year term, $0 deductible, insurance-backed by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, non-transferable to subsequent owners.
• Covers: mechanical breakdown of existing PV (panels, inverters/optimizers, racking) — parts, labor, service calls.
• Does NOT cover: the new battery (own warranty), wear-and-tear, weather/hail, pre-existing conditions, roof issues.
• Age limits: panels/microinverters under 15 years; string/central inverters under 7 years. Not every system fully qualifies — disclose at inspection.
• It's ONE of three layers: (1) equipment manufacturer warranties, (2) Top Tier's 10-yr workmanship, (3) the 5-yr Align contract. Never call it "full coverage."
• NEVER say: "Everything's covered" / "never worry again" / "Align is your full coverage" / "you can extend beyond 5 years" / "Align transfers when you sell."

Quantifying the rescue value:

This is independent of bill savings — the rescue alone can be worth $4,000–7,500.

7. Outage Reality — The Ice Storms, Told Honestly

Why outages happen here. Southeast Michigan's deep memories are ice and summer wind — and the record is stated precisely:

• February 2023 ice storm: roughly 680,000 DTE and Consumers customers combined — many in freezing homes for most of a week. (No DTE-only split was published; we quote the combined figure as combined.)
• August 2021 storms: about 1 million customers across Michigan's utilities combined.
• The improvement, credited: the MPSC's February 2026 order found DTE reached top-quartile reliability in 2025, with roughly 60% outage-time reduction. The grid is genuinely better — we say so, because the customer lived 2025 and knows.
• The honest synthesis: the history is real, the improvement is real, and an ice storm is a heating emergency that doesn't consult either.

What a battery does — and the honest mechanism. Grid-tied solar shuts off automatically in an outage (anti-islanding). A battery with backup keeps essential loads running — the furnace blower and controls first, refrigerator, medical devices, connectivity — and recharges from winter sun at reduced rates with load management.

How to pitch it honestly: "February 2023 put hundreds of thousands of Michigan homes into freezing dark for most of a week — every solar roof was off the whole time. DTE's grid is genuinely better now; the state confirmed it. Ice doesn't check. A battery keeps the furnace running either way."

8. Hidden Costs Avoided / What You Own vs What You Rent

• What you rent: the highest-rate power in our northern book, with two rate increases landed back to back — an outflow credit that resets with every case — a monthly DG charge no configuration removes — and a freezing house when the next ice storm lands.
• What you own (with the battery): your surplus at full replacement value, spent the evening it's made under exactly the configuration the rules require — plus a furnace that runs through the storm.
• Hidden costs avoided: the $11K takeover bundle + the donated outflow haircut + every winter restoration's real costs — hotel nights, frozen pipes, spoiled food.

9. Battery Products

• Backup config (default — ice-storm country): Tesla Powerwall 3 (13.5 kWh; Redline: $20,500), FranklinWH aPower 2 (15 kWh; Redline: $20,500). Not compatible with HDM.

• Self-consumption config: Enphase IQ 5P (10 kWh; Redline: $15,500 SC / $17,600 BU), SolarEdge Home Battery (9.7 kWh usable; Redline: $14,500 SC / $16,000 BU), SolarEdge Nexis (self-consumption only pending crew backup training; Redline: $15,500 SC).

• DTE takeaway: every install is non-export by rule (Rider 18) — all catalog batteries qualify in self-consumption or backup configuration; none may be configured to export. Size to soak the midday surplus (current-DG) or for furnace-first winter resilience (legacy/backup). For legacy customers, confirm the battery addition doesn't trip the capacity-expansion rule per DTE's current interconnection guidance. Confirm cohort and config in the tool.

• Financing terms vary by lender — price deals through the proposal tool.

10. Objection Handling

Universal objections (swap in DTE figures) + DTE-specific objections.

"What's this $18 solar charge on my projection? The other company didn't show one." (DTE-specific — the SAC honesty play)

"That's DTE's System Access Contribution — two dollars thirty-one per kilowatt of your array, every month, charged to every solar customer on the current program. It's real, it's on your bill either way, and the other company not showing it doesn't make it go away — it makes their savings number wrong by about two hundred dollars a year. We put it in the math because you'd find it on your first bill anyway, and I'd rather you find it here."

"Can my battery sell power back to DTE?" (DTE-specific — the honest no)

"No — and I want to be straight about it: DTE's rules say export from batteries is not permitted on this program. Self-consumption and backup only. Here's why that costs you nothing: your outflow credits at about nine cents while your power costs seventeen-plus — exporting stored power would be selling at half price anyway. The whole win is using your own power yourself, which is exactly what the rules require and exactly what the math rewards."

"I'm on the old net metering — I'm grandfathered, right?" (DTE-specific — the personal-clock answer)

"You are — with three rules worth knowing exactly. Your one-to-one runs ten years from your enrollment date, not from any statewide deadline — so tell me the year you enrolled and I'll tell you your runway. Expanding your array voids it. And it ends if you sell the house — the buyer joins today's program. None of that is a reason to panic; your clock is real. It's the reason a battery makes sense now: it doesn't touch your status, it covers the outages your credit never did, and the day your ten years run out, it's already capturing the full spread."

"DTE's grid is terrible — I've heard it's the worst in the country." (DTE-specific — the past-tense correction)

"It was genuinely bad — February 2023 put hundreds of thousands of homes into freezing dark for most of a week, and that memory is earned. Here's the honest update: the state's own review found DTE hit top-quartile reliability in 2025, with outage time down about sixty percent. I'm not going to run down a grid that's improving — and I'm not going to pretend ice storms retired. The battery isn't a bet that DTE fails; it's a furnace that runs when weather wins."

"Why is the loan more than the system price?"

"The cash price is $17,000–18,500 depending on config. Service Finance adds dealer fees bringing the financed amount to about $22,068–23,942. Cash or a HELOC is cheaper if that's an option. There's no DTE rebate — SolarCurrents closed to new enrollment — and the federal credit expired. The value is the spread at Michigan's highest rates, the backup, and the takeover."

11. DO SAY / NEVER SAY

12. Required Disclosures

1. ☐ Savings are estimates; DTE's rates and the outflow credit change through MPSC rate cases — verify current figures in the tool.
2. ☐ DTE bills inflow at full retail and credits outflow at the tiered rate ($0.08765 first 17 kWh/day / $0.10139 excess), offsetting charges other than securitization; credits carry forward, are non-transferable, and have no cash-out. Solar customers pay the DG System Access Contribution of $2.31 per kW-AC per month, which is included in all projections.
3. ☐ Battery export is not permitted for Rider 18 systems; all battery installations are configured for self-consumption and/or backup only, and no export or program income is represented.
4. ☐ For legacy net-metering customers (enrolled before May 9, 2019): 1:1 crediting continues for ten years from the individual enrollment date; capacity expansion voids the status; per state guidance the status terminates upon sale of the property. Battery additions are configured so as not to constitute a capacity expansion, confirmed against DTE's current interconnection requirements.
5. ☐ SolarCurrents is closed to new enrollment; DTE offers no battery rebate, VPP, or battery-eligible demand-response program; no program income is quoted. No federal ITC after 12/31/2025. Michigan provides no residential solar sales-tax exemption, and no property-tax exemption certificates have been issuable for installations completed after 1983.
6. ☐ Interconnection follows DTE's current requirements ($50 application fee, waived if transitioning; bidirectional meter; sizing ≤110% of usage).
7. ☐ Align Solar Protection is non-transferable; workmanship warranty transfer requires written consent; manufacturer warranties transfer per OEM terms. Align coverage is contingent on inspection + age limits (panels <15 yr, inverters <7 yr).
8. ☐ Backup duration depends on system sizing and load; whole-home heating through a multi-day outage is not implied (essential loads including furnace controls/blower are the design basis). Pricing confirmed in the tool before commitment.

13. Quick-Reference Numbers (dated — confirm before quoting)

• Outflow: $0.08765 first 17 kWh/day / $0.10139 excess (Sheet D-115.00, eff. 2/6/2025; resets via rate cases) — $0.0775 = STALE | offsets all charges except securitization ("capped at power supply" = stale)
• Inflow: ~17.6¢ + PSCR (highest in northern book) | Service charge: $8.50 | Distribution: 8.907¢ non-bypassable
• SAC: $2.31/kW-AC/month — in every projection (8 kW ≈ $18.50/mo)
• THE SPREAD: ~7.5–8.8¢ (~$285/yr); ~90% energy ≈ ~60% bill (say it that way)
• BATTERY EXPORT: PROHIBITED (Rider 18, verbatim) — self-consumption/backup only
• Legacy: enrolled before 5/9/2019 → 1:1 for 10 YEARS FROM INDIVIDUAL ENROLLMENT; expansion voids; TERMINATES ON SALE — ask the enrollment year first
• Rate cases: U-21534 +$217.4M (eff. 2/6/2025); U-21860 +$242.4M (approved 2/19/2026) | "+38% since 2018" = retired (unpinned)
• DG cap: 10% (PA 235, 2023); DTE ~87–97% headroom — NOT a clock | Pending: nothing
• Programs: SolarCurrents CLOSED ($2.40/W / $0.11/kWh = retired); no battery program | Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025 | Taxes: NO sales exemption; NO property exemption post-1983
• Reliability: top-quartile 2025, ~60% outage-time reduction (U-21860) — past-tense rule on the old framing
• Inverter replacement out-of-pocket: $3,500–5,000 | Takeover bundle: ~$11,800
• Default config: backup $18,500 / self-consumption $17,000
• Storm anchors: Feb 2023 ice — ~680K DTE+Consumers COMBINED (no DTE split — never invent); Aug 2021 — ~1M combined all-utility

14. Sell Hard, Sell Honest — the standing rules

• Volunteer the SAC first. $2.31/kW/month is on the bill either way — showing it before the customer finds it is the whole credibility play, and it's what the hidden-charge installers can't match.
• The export bar is a feature to disclose, not a flaw to bury — the rules require exactly what the math rewards.
• Ask the enrollment year before pitching a legacy customer — the clock is personal; the runway math is theirs; never oversell bill savings to 1:1.
• Past tense on reliability — credit the improvement, keep the history; the stale insult loses to the customer's own 2025.
• Combined counts stay combined — Feb 2023 and Aug 2021 have no DTE-only splits; precision beats drama.
• SolarCurrents is closed — the income beat is retired; a rep pitching it is selling a program that won't take the application.
• No cap urgency, no program deadline — the honest clocks are the dockets, the personal legacy runways, and the ice.
• Never quote the federal ITC (expired). Never claim a Michigan tax exemption (neither exists for new residential).