DTE customers will be charged differently starting this month.

The company is switching to a time of day rate plan -- where customers will pay more for electricity during peak-hours of the day. Those hours are 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

DTE says you can keep your bill lower by doing laundry or running your air conditioner in off-peak hours. The time of year will also impact your bill with a higher rate in June through September.

This comes after nearly 700,000 DTE customers lost power from ice-storm complications. Many were out of power for several days.