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Michigan is hosting the Mid-America Regulatory Conference in Grand Rapids in August, and registration has opened for the four-day event that brings together leadership from utility and energy regulatory agencies from 14 states.
The conference theme is Grand Vision: Past, Present, Future. The annual meeting and conference includes members of state regulatory agencies, representatives of regulated industries, state, federal, and local government officials, thought leaders in energy, telecommunications, water, and mobility, and anyone else who is interested.
The conference will be held Aug. 6-9 at the JW Marriott Grand Rapids. Registration is open, and early bird rates are available until June 15.
Michigan initially was to host the conference in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented that year’s conference from happening. The delay is reflected in the logo for this year’s conference.
The MPSC held the first of two half-day technical conferences dealing with boosting the reliability and resilience of Michigan’s power grid, spurred by power outages from winter storms that left hundreds of thousands of Michiganders without electricity.
The first conference was held Monday, May 22, and Commissioners, MPSC Staff and members of the public heard from experts on issues and barriers to improved resilience, looking back at extreme weather patterns in recent years, challenges during recent storms, and the impact of outages on telecommunications, water and sewer, emergency services, and other critical infrastructure; There were discussions about how to define and value resilience, and what barriers in the regulatory, planning, financial, technological, policy and other realms stand in the way of improved resilience. Also discussed: Potential improvements to data collection to better understand which communities experienced more frequent and longer duration outages.
A recording of the conference is available at the technical conference’s Day 1 webpage.
The second part of the technical conference will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, May 26. It will focus on solutions for customers and critical facilities. Topics include exploring tools and technologies to improve resilience for customers and critical facilities; empowering the most vulnerable customers given historic inequities in resilience investments; and working with local governments to identify facilities critical to community resilience and responding to the needs of the most vulnerable customers.
Information on participating is at the technical conference Day 2 webpage. A recording of the conference will also be posted to that page.
Commissioners honored exceptional service from six MPSC employees and recognized many others for longevity in service to state government during the agency’s annual employee recognition event May 18.
Cody Matthews of the Energy Operations Division was named employee of the year. Teresa McKay of the Customer Assistance Division received a special certificate for customer service and teamwork. Josh McConkie of the Telecommunications Division, Jon DeCooman of the Energy Resources Division, Stephanie Haney of the Regulated Energy Division and Ben Johnson of the Administrative Services Division received special recognition awards.
The MPSC’s employee of the year as well as special employee recognitions are nominated by MPSC staff and selected by a panel of previous winners. We were excited to hear the many wonderful things MPSC staff had to say about their colleagues. Ryan Wilson, director of the Regulatory Affairs Division, was also honored by the Commission as an outstanding manager with a 360 Manager Award.
In addition, a number of employees were celebrated for longevity in state service:
- 25 years: Wendy Thelen.
- 20 years: Angela Sanderson, Alex Morese, Chris Forist, Roberta Marks, Kirk Megginson and Mike Byrne.
- 15 years: Shatina Jones, Nick Evans, Shannon Hartman, Blair Renfro, Jing Shi, Justin Miller, Dave Walker, Bethany Doyle and Alissa Day.
- 10 years: Diane Martin, Meagan Emmons, Josh McConkie, Lori Mayabb.
- 5 years: Sarah Mullkoff, Joy Wang, Ryan Yeoman, Brianna Brown, Jamie Curtis, Derrick Schimming, Anna Schiller, Drew Simon, Zach Heidemann, Kasey Patrick, Kevin Spence, Michelle Schreur.
Here’s information about orders the Commission approved May 18:
- The Commission kicked off its annual assessment of the funding factor for Michigan’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund, or LIEAF, which each year raises up to $50 million to support energy assistance and self-sufficiency services through a per-meter charge assessed on retail electric billing meters at a maximum of $1 per month (Case No. U-17377). The MPSC set the funding factor at 90 cents in 2022, a 3-cent increase from 2021. The Commission each year must set the funding factor by July 31. In 2022, more than 56,000 Michigan households received energy assistance and self-sufficiency services through the Michigan Energy Assistance Program, which distributes funds raised through LIEAF to nonprofit service agencies across the state.
- The Commission approved a request by Consumers Energy to issue a one-time, $17 million refund to customers, $9 million of which will be used for low-income and payment-challenged assistance program and $8 million toward vegetation management that helps boost reliability by reducing tree and branch contact with power lines (Case No. U-21332).
- The MPSC gave final approval to the new 679 overlay area code for Detroit’s 313 area code, which is now projected to run out of unassigned new phone numbers in the second quarter of 2026 (Case No. U-21337). Customers with existing 313 phone numbers will not have to change area codes. But new customers may be given 679 phone numbers once unassigned 313 numbers are depleted. The 313/679 area code territory includes Detroit, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Allen Park, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Ecorse, the Grosse Pointes, Inkster, Lincoln Park, Redford Township, River Rouge and Taylor.
You can read more about orders issued May 18 in the MPSC’s news release.
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