2018 Guide to Effective Proxies

2.17.8 Pay for performance alignment | 423 6 TH EDITION | GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE PROXIES DTE ENERGY COMPANY DTE ENERGY 2018 PROXY STATEMENT 3 • Our Board’s Mission and Governance Guidelines recommend that the Board consider diversity of characteristics including experience, gender, race, ethnicity and age when evaluating nominees for the Board. • We limit our directors who are CEOs of public companies to a total of not more than three public company boards and all other directors to a total of not more than four public company boards. Performance Highlights The Company continued to deliver on its objectives to provide strong earnings per share and dividend growth in 2017, while maintaining a strong balance sheet, employee engagement and improving customer service. Some highlights of the Company’s 2017 performance include: • Achieved 7.2% compound operating earnings per share growth during the five years ending 2017 (see discussion of operating earnings on page 47). • Increased our dividend payment to an annualized rate of $3.30 per share in 2017, representing a 7.1% increase over the annualized dividend rate in 2016. • Provided our shareholders with a five-year total shareholder return of 216% (indexed with 2012 as the base year = 100%). • Delivered cash from operations of $2.1 billion in 2017. • Achieved Highest Customer Satisfaction award in the Midwest from J.D. Power for both electric and gas business customers. • Received Gallup Great Workplace Award for the fifth consecutive year. • Announced a broad sustainability initiative that will reduce our carbon emissions by more than 80 percent by 2050. More information on our sustainability efforts can be found at dteenergy.com/esg. Executive Compensation Highlights Our executive compensation programs are designed to be competitive with our peers, have a meaningful performance component linked to the achievement of short-term and long-term goals that align with our shareholders’ long-term interests and encourage executives to have an ownership interest in the Company. Our Chairman and CEO’s total compensation shows strong pay-for-performance alignment with growth in long-term shareholder value creation. Our CEO’s compensation growth trend is consistent with the growth in value of a $100 investment in DTE Energy Company stock made at the beginning of 2012. CEO Total Compensation ($000s) 10,174 12,499 15,836 Total Shareholder Return (Indexed, Base Period 2012=100) 148.82 188.89 216.45