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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed Alessandra Carreon, an engineer with a background in the auto industry whose most recent role was in electric vehicle initiatives, fleet electrification and accessible charging infrastructure, to be the newest commissioner on the MPSC.
Commissioner Carreon, whose appointment began July 23, received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Rice University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. A licensed professional engineer in the State of California, she is the first Asian-American to serve on the Commission. She succeeds departed Commissioner Tremaine Phillips for a term that ends July 2, 2025.
Most recently, Commissioner Carreon was manager of carbon-free transportation at RMI (formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Institute), an independent, non-partisan organization focused on accelerating the transition to clean energy around the world. Previously, she was manager of responsible material sourcing for Ford Motor Co. and has worked with the Dearborn automaker’s global purchasing and sustainability teams on corporate sustainability programs. Her background includes experience in regulatory compliance, environmental consulting, social enterprise, and entrepreneurship.
Chair Dan Scripps, who’s been on the Commission since his appointment by Whitmer in February 2019, was reappointed for a term ending July 2, 2029, and designated to continue as the Commission’s chair.
The deadline to register for the 2023 Mid-America Regulatory Conference in Grand Rapids next month is just days away – Aug. 1, to be precise. If you haven’t registered yet, get to it!
The MARC conference Aug. 6-9 at the JW Marriott Grand Rapids has an agenda packed with great speakers on public regulatory matters including the most active era of federal energy policy since Michigan’s own Gerald Ford was president. It’s a time of historic federal investment, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. These are funding significant improvements across the energy, telecommunications and water sectors.
Register now at www.marc-conference.org. MARC represents an association of regional organizations of utility and energy regulatory agencies from Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
Since 1958, MARC has sponsored an annual meeting and conference of Commissioners and staff from member state agencies, as well as representatives of regulated industries and the public at large, to share ideas and discuss regulatory and policy issues affecting their states, region and the nation.
The Commission approved a settlement agreement on DTE Electric Co.’s integrated resource plan that calls for earlier closure of the utility’s coal-fired Monroe Power Plant and significant expansion of renewable energy generation and energy storage
The settlement agreement (Case No. U-21193) was signed by 21 intervenors in the case that helps shape the future of electricity supply for 2.3 million DTE Electric customers in southeast Michigan and the Thumb. IRPs are utilities’ long-range forecasts for ensuring reliable service over the next 20 years, required under Michigan's 2016 energy laws for each electric utility regulated by the MPSC.
Among the highlights of the settlement agreement, DTE Electric agreed to:
- Retire its Monroe Power Plant units 3 and 4 by Dec. 31, 2028, and units 1 and 2 by Dec. 31, 2032, and convert its Belle River Power Plant in St. Clair County from a coal-fired 1,270 megawatt (MW) baseload plant to a natural gas peaker plant used less frequently for times of highest demand for electricity. The company also will retire its diesel-fueled River Rouge and St. Clair peaker plants in 2024. Today’s order includes preapproval of $125 million in costs for the Belle River plant conversion in 2025-26.
- Accelerating development of renewable energy projects targeting additions of 600 MW per year in 2026, 2027, and 2028, and 1000 MW per year in 2029 and 2030, with approximately 30% to be sourced through power purchase agreements. The company aims to add more than 15,000 MW of solar and wind energy generation in Michigan.
- Accelerating development of electricity storage, targeting additions totaling 230 MW in 2025, 120 MW in 2027, and 430 MW in 2028 with approximately 35% being owned by third parties. The company aims to add more than 1,800 MW of energy storage by 2042.
- Increase its energy waste reduction target to 2% savings in 2023-27 and raise its distributed generation cap to 6%.
- Donate $38 million to organizations that provide utility bill assistance and home energy efficiency improvements for income-eligible households.
- Disclose annually all political donations of $5,000 or more made by DTE Energy Co. beginning in 2024.
Read more about the approved IRP in the MPSC’s issue brief.
The MPSC on July 7 launched an investigation into Consumers Energy Co. amid complaints from customers about nonworking electric meters, high estimated bills due to extended estimated meter reading, and reported delays in service for customers seeking installation of new electric and gas service.
MPSC Staff looking into these customer complains found that Consumers was estimating bills for many electric customers with 3G meters even before cellular phone companies discontinued operating 3G service in January 2023, because the meters were not working and showing blank screens. That meant neither customers nor Consumers meter readers could pull actual readings from the meters.
MPSC Staff learned Consumers had been aware of the malfunctions, which it blamed on battery contamination issues that could cause the blank screens, as far back as 2020, with more than 900,000 meters potentially at risk. But Consumers did not raise the issue when it sought an extension of a meter testing waiver it received in Case No. U-20639.
Concerned about this and other discrepancies in reporting meter issues, MPSC Staff raised the possibility that Consumers could be in violation of several sections of the MPSC’s Consumer Standards and Billing Practices for Electric and Natural Gas service, in particular rules regarding the required replacement of failed meter equipment, limits on how many months bills can be estimated, and the inability of customers or the utility to pull accurate electric use readings from broken meters.
The MPSC also received persistent complaints about Consumers’ inability to meet Service Quality and Reliability Standards requirements that 90% of new service installations must be completed within 15 business days.
The Commission gave Consumers Energy until Aug. 4 to provide information about and explanations for these issues. The Commission directed MPSC Staff to analyze the data Consumers provides and make recommendations to address the issues by Sept. 29, 2023.
The MPSC submitted a study on power grid integration in Michigan to the Legislature in late June. The report outlines impacts and recommendations for addressing growth in demand for electricity posed by increased adoption of electric vehicles and other moves toward electrification and next steps for integration of distributed energy resources into the state’s distribution grid.
The report was at the request of the Michigan Senate, which in Senate Resolution 143 of 2020 asked the MPSC to examine issues around integration of customer-owned electric generation resources such as wind, solar and energy storage, noting that Michigan’s electric grid wasn’t built to accommodate modern electrification demands or major amounts of distributed generation.
This study advanced the Commission’s MI Power Grid initiative, launched in 2019 to maximize the benefits of Michigan’s transition from large, centrally located power plants to smaller distributed, clean energy resources. The MI Power Grid Distribution System Data Access workgroup spearheaded the grid integration study, working with utility representatives, subject matter experts and other stakeholders. The MPSC also received valuable technical assistance and expertise from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The full report is available at the MPSC’s website.
Here is information about orders the Commission issued at its July 7 and July 26 meetings:
- The Commission announced a public hearing on its effort to re-promulgate rules governing the obligations of basic local exchange service (BLES) providers at 9 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2023, at the MPSC’s offices at 7109 W. Saginaw Highway, Lansing (Case No. U-21368). The MPSC is re-promulgating rules for BLES telephone providers that opt to discontinue service, which are to expire March 21, 2024. The Commission seeks to re-promulgate the same rules with minor changes, while adding rules about the information BLES providers must provide in notices of discontinuance of service filed with the MPSC. The public may provide comment at the in-person hearing or submit written comments by 5 p.m. Aug. 14, 2023. Written comments may be submitted through the MPSC’s E-Dockets system, mailed to Executive Secretary, Michigan Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 30221, Lansing, MI 48909, or emailed to mpscedockets@michigan.gov. Written comments should reference Case No. U-21368.
- The MPSC approved an application by Consumers Energy Co. to apply as a bill credit for its natural gas customers $1.6 million unspent from a previously approved one-time voluntary refund (Case No. U-20932).
- The Commission adopted a new capacity demonstration process for utilities and other load-serving entities in light of changing obligations from Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the regional transmission organization for most of Michigan (Case No. U-21225). Michigan requires all electric utilities, alternative electric suppliers, municipal electric utilities and cooperative electric utilities to demonstrate they own or have contractual rights to sufficient energy capacity to meet obligations four years into the future. The Commission in June 2023 sought comments on MPSC Staff’s proposed capacity demonstration process and requirements document developed after a 2022 technical conference aimed at aligning with MISO’s revision of its Open Access Transmission, Energy and Operating Reserve Markets Tariff to shift from an annual resource adequacy requirement to a seasonal resource adequacy requirement for each summer, fall, winter and spring.
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