Commissioner Katherine Peretick was elected earlier this month to be vice chair of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC), an ad hoc national organization focused on issues related to the storage of spent fuel from nuclear reactors that generate electricity.
The NWSC represents the collective interests of member state utility regulators, consumer advocates, attorneys general, and radiation control officials; tribal governments; local governments; electric utilities with operating and/or shutdown nuclear reactors; and other experts on nuclear waste policy matters.
Peretick will serve alongside North Carolina Utilities Commissioner Kimberly Duffley, who was elected chair of the NWSC.
“As one of the founding members of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition, the Michigan Public Service Commission has long supported the NWSC’s mission and goals,” Peretick said. “I’m honored to serve in NWSC leadership at this key period in which states are grappling with retention and expansion of nuclear generation.”
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Commissioner Alessandra Carreon has been named to serve on a national task force on natural gas issues.
Commissioner Carreon will serve on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ (NARUC) Task Force on Natural Gas Resource Planning. The task force’s aim is to connect utility regulators with tools, expertise and platforms to share information and develop commission-led planning processes to help navigate the challenging energy landscape of the coming decades.
Task force members will engage with other states and experts to help accelerate their understanding of the costs, benefits and trajectories of various pathways to meet state policy goals and strategies to facilitate meaningful stakeholder engagement, all while minimizing cost burdens on customers.
Commissions in several states are charged with implementing statutory decarbonization goals for the gas and/or electric utility sectors, and many are focused on economic development, long-term affordability, reliability/resilience and other state priorities.
“Natural gas is an integral resource within Michigan’s current energy landscape: The Energy Information Administration states that Michigan routinely ranks among the top 10 states for total natural gas consumption,” Carreon said. “Simultaneously, our state has set targets for decarbonization that will require a holistic approach towards achieving a clean energy transition. MPSC’s participation in this task force ensures we have access to information and networks of leading experts and implementers to develop and act on a roadmap for an equitable energy system – one that considers the role of natural gas and is safe, affordable, and reliable for all of Michigan’s communities.”
The task force is supported by the Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Policy and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, with internal staffing from the NARUC Center for Partnerships and Innovation, to convene members over the two-year period of the task force.
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The MPSC has used this year’s observance of the annual observance of Energy Awareness Month each October to draw attention to energy waste reduction and preparing for cold weather.
The MPSC put together graphics that appear on its Facebook and X/Twitter accounts highlighting energy vampires — electronic devices that use power when they remain plugged in even if they’re turned off. The graphics show that unplugging devices when not in use, using power strips and turning off the power when not needed, and powering computers into sleep mode rather than screen savers are all small steps that can help cut energy waste.
The MPSC is also reminding folks that with temperatures dipping, it’s time to get ready for home heating season. The U.S. Department of Energy has lots of tips on steps large and small to help prepare your home for winter through its Energy Saver guide. You can also find out more about energy assistance programs, shutoff protections, and using energy wisely at the MPSC’s Be Winterwise page.
The MPSC’s report on energy waste reduction (EWR), released Oct. 4, found that EWR saved Michiganders more than $2.75 billion in 2021 and 2022. According to the annual report, EWR programs saved more than 1.8 million MWh of electricity and 6.2 million Mcf of natural gas in 2021, and more than 1.6 million MWh of electricity and 6.3 million Mcf of natural gas in 2022.
All told, the combination of minimum requirements, incentives for higher performance, and a comprehensive planning process has resulted in actual savings of approximately twice the minimum savings required by law for electric utilities, and one-third higher than the minimum savings required for natural gas utilities.
You can read more about EWR’s benefits in the MPSC’s Report on the Implementation of PA 295 2021 & 2022 Utility Energy Waste Reduction Programs.
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The MPSC’s Status of Renewable Energy, Distributed Generation, and Legacy Net Metering in Michigan report released Sept. 29 found that each of Michigan’s regulated electric utilities met the state’s required 15% renewable energy portfolio standard in 2021.
Under Public Act 295 of 2008, Michigan electricity providers were required to meet a 10% renewable energy standard based on retail sales by 2015. Public Act 342 of 2016 raised the requirement to 12.5% in 2019 and 2020 and to 15% by the end of 2021. The report finds all electric providers subject to the standards met the goal.
PA 342 of 2016 set a goal for utilities to meet at least 35% of Michigan’s electricity needs through renewable energy and energy waste reduction by 2025. The report concludes the percentage towards that goal was 25% in 2022, up from 23% in 2020.
In addition, the number of customers participating in Michigan’s distributed generation (DG) program increased to 19,571 from 14,262 between 2020 and 2023. The number of DG installations increased to 19,778 from 14,446 during that period, an increase of 37% over that time period (the number of installations exceeds the number of customers as some customers have multiple installations). Several utilities have increased the caps on participation in the DG programs, measured by the percentage of average in-state load: Consumers Energy Co. (4%), DTE Electric Co. (6%), and Upper Peninsula Power Co. (3%). All regulated utilities except for Indiana Michigan Power Co. have room remaining for additional residential customer participation.
Here’s information on orders released by the MPSC on Oct. 12:
- The MPSC provided additional guidance on the substance of proposed benefit cost analyses that utilities would file in support of scaling innovative pilot programs and announced a collaborative to develop a related open-source tool, as part of the ongoing work of the MPSC’s MI Power Grid New Technologies and Business Models workgroup (Case No. U-20898).
- The MPSC approved DTE Gas Co.’s gas cost recovery plan for 2022-2023 with several revisions and a Section 7 warning about some costs (Case No. U-21064). The Commission warned that a premium of $36,808 the company paid for third-party certified responsibly sourced gas may not be recoverable in future reconciliation cases without clearly demonstrating benefits to customers.
- The Commission directed MPSC Staff to convene two half-day technical conference sessions on electric vehicles on Jan. 24 -25, 2024, to collaboratively explore new issues and concerns and to remove barriers to meeting the state’s transportation electrification goals equitably (Case No. U-21492).
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