These deals with Consumers Energy and DTE Energy expand the utilities' energy efficiency initiatives, referred to as "energy waste reduction." These programs conduct insulation and air sealing improvements, offer rebates for highly efficient heating and cooling systems, and walk businesses through how best to lower their energy usage.
Many Michiganders live in older, drafty homes that require a lot of energy to heat in the winter and cool in the summer. This leads to a high "energy burden," where families have to spend a disproportionate chunk of their paycheck just to keep the power on.
These agreements help by:
- Increasing Support for Low-Income Families: More money will go toward fixing houses and apartments for neighbors who need it most.
- Neighborhood Initiatives: The deals help ensure that the companies target the highest-need neighborhoods in Detroit, Flint, and other communities with increased resources for home weatherization and more energy efficient products that reduce use of unhealthy gas appliances, along with community-based outreach to educate customers about available programs.
- Fixing Homes First: The plans include money for "health and safety" repairs. This pays for things like fixing a leaky roof or old wiring so that energy-saving upgrades, like new insulation, can be installed.
- Cleaner Technology: The deals encourage the use of heat pumps, which are a cleaner and more efficient way to heat and cool homes.
- Workforce Development:Increased support for workforce development programs will provide more opportunities to displaced trades professionals, people in low-income and environmental justice communities, formerly incarcerated people returning home, and tribal communities.
Michigan’s energy waste reduction efforts, among the most cost-effective in the nation, generated lifetime savings of $1.4 billion for customers. Every $1 utilities spent on EWR programs — offerings help with upgraded lighting, heating, ventilation and cooling, home weatherization, energy education, appliance recycling and more — generated $2.40 of benefits, lowering customer bills through reduced energy use. Michigan’s EWR program for natural gas was ranked first in the country and its electric EWR programs came in second.
Meanwhile, the MPSC enacted the nation’s strongest protections for consumers to prevent other customers from subsidizing data center costs. The Commission approved special contracts sought by DTE Electric that add a range of additional protections as a condition of serving a proposed 1.4-gigawatt data center in Washtenaw County’s Saline Township and added a further condition that other customers will not pay any costs the utility is unable to recover from the data center.
The Commission also approved Consumers Energy’s application to amend the terms and conditions under which the utility serves data centers and other very large electric customers. Approved provisions protect other ratepayers from subsidizing data centers or facing other additional costs with the arrival of the energy-intensive facilities.
