A bill to amend 1939 PA 3, entitled “An act to provide for the regulation and control of public and certain private utilities and other services affected with a public interest within this state; to provide for alternative energy suppliers; to provide for licensing; to include municipally owned utilities and other providers of energy under certain provisions of this act; to create a public service commission and to prescribe and define its powers and duties; to abolish the Michigan public utilities commission and to confer the powers and duties vested by law on the public service commission; to provide for the powers and duties of certain state governmental officers and entities; to provide for the continuance, transfer, and completion of certain matters and proceedings; to abolish automatic adjustment clauses; to prohibit certain rate increases without notice and hearing; to qualify residential energy conservation programs permitted under state law for certain federal exemption; to create a fund; to encourage the utilization of resource recovery facilities; to prohibit certain acts and practices of providers of energy; to allow for the securitization of stranded costs; to reduce rates; to provide for appeals; to provide appropriations; to declare the effect and purpose of this act; to prescribe remedies and penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,” by amending sections 6, 6a, 6m, 6t, and 11 (MCL 460.6, 460.6a, 460.6m, 460.6t, and 460.11), section 6 as amended by 2005 PA 190 and sections 6a, 6m, and 11 as amended and section 6t as added by 2016 PA 341, and by adding section 6aa.
HB 4759 mandates net-zero electricity generation - 100% "carbon-free" electricity - by 2035. It excludes nuclear from the list of "clean energy" sources.
HB 4760 requires the Michigan Public Service Commission to prioritize utility reliability, safety, affordability, equitable access to home electrification and clean-energy technologies, minimization of harm and prioritization of benefits in communities consisting predominantly of minorities or households below the poverty line, compliance with state carbon-neutrality goals, and overall cost-effectiveness in service. The commission must consider these goals in approving utility rate cases and integrated resource plans. Also requires utility integrated resource plans to include analyses of the elimination of barriers for customers to adopt distributed generation, and requires the commission to ensure that the plan follows state policy goals for the decarbonization of the utility sector. Also requires the commission to hold at least two public hearings before approving utility integrated resource plans, renewable energy plans, energy waste reduction plans, or issuing an order in a general rate case or other proceedings of substantial public interest. The commission is also permitted to consider various factors impacting cost causation in electric rate cases.
HB 4761 incorporates renewable energy plans, low-income energy waste reduction plans, electrification measures, and an energy waste reduction workforce into requirements for utilities.
Co-sponsored by Reps.
Referred to the Committee on Energy, Communications, and Technology
