For decades, many states have required their energy utilities to regularly submit long-term plans laying out what the utilities believe is the best way to provide reliable and cost-effective service to their customers. Known as “integrated resource plans” or IRPs, this planning process forces the utility to show what investments and strategies it will make […]
DTE Energy’s Long-Range Plan Fails Michigan Ratepayers Read More »
The Upper Peninsula Energy Task Force’s second meeting (read our blog post about the first) was held in St. Ignace, Mich., on Aug. 5, just a stone’s throw from the Mackinac Bridge and the Straits of Mackinac. Under those waters is the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline, whose cloudy future is one of the big reasons Gov. Whitmer created the
UP Energy Task Force 2nd Meeting Does a Deep Dive into Propane Read More »
Today, the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan filed the following comments on the Michigan Public Service Commission’s Statewide Energy Assessment (SEA). For background, here is what the MPSC’s website says about the SEA: MPSC Statewide Energy Assessment (SEA) Michigan experienced historically extreme cold weather from January 29, 2019 to February 1, 2019 due to a polar vortex.
CUB of Michigan’s Comments on the MPSC Statewide Energy Assessment Read More »
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan has just over 300,000 people. That makes the entire peninsula less populated than each of the six largest counties in the Lower Peninsula. Most of the UP is closer to Wisconsin than to Lansing or Detroit. So why should those of us that live south of the Mackinac Bridge care
Why the UP Matters: Special Task Force on Upper Peninsula Energy Holds Its First Meeting Read More »
The life of an energy consumer can feel powerless. Your rates go up every year. Your monthly bill is determined by an indecipherable, dizzyingly complicated tariff. You endure long hold times and leave ignored messages when you contact your utility. You constantly hear about how energy use is killing the planet and that fixing climate
DTE Energy is the only choice of electricity provider for the vast majority of its 2.2 million customers across Southeast Michigan. So it makes sense that so many residents of the area crowded a conference room in downtown Detroit on June 20 for a public forum held by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) regarding
Members of the Public Make Their Voices Heard On DTE Energy’s Long-term Resource Plan Read More »
The fate of utility customers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is approaching a crossroads. Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, which supplies a significant amount of U.P. customers’ liquid propane for heating, is facing possible shutdown as the result of a dispute over the viability of the line. Meanwhile, solar power has been taking off in the U.P.
