Workgroups

Workgroups

• Energy Affordability and Accessibility Collaborative

  The Energy Affordability and Accessibility Collaborative is an open, working group committed to facilitating discussion and obtaining input from a broad range of stakeholders on existing and emerging policy issues related to energy assistance, customer protections and low-income energy waste reduction services. The group's goal is to connect the expertise, experience, and perspectives of participants and provide recommendations to the Commission to better serve low-income and vulnerable households with their energy needs.

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• Low Income Workgroup

  The Low Income Workgroup is collaboratively working to identify and address low income specific energy issues, energy waste reduction measures, and create new initiatives that can reduce the cost of the energy burden on Michigan's low income energy consumers and communities.  With the goal of connecting and combining the expertise, experience, and perspectives of the participating groups, the workgroup is attempting to bridge gaps between program offerings, facilitate more complete delivery of energy efficiency programs, and seek opportunities to better serve low income single family residences and multifamily buildings.

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• Energy Waste Reduction Collaborative

  The goal of the Energy Waste Reduction collaborative is to make recommendations for improving energy waste reduction plans for energy providers, provide program evaluation and support, and promote economic development and job creation in Michigan by connecting Michigan manufacturers, suppliers and vendors with energy waste reduction programs.

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• Energy Waste Reduction and Demand Response Statewide Potential Study

  Public Act 341 of 2016 requires the Michigan Public Service Commission to periodically conduct Energy Waste Reduction (EWR) and Demand Response (DR) potential studies to support modeling scenarios and assumptions used by electric utilities in Integrated Resource Plans filed before the MPSC.

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• MPSC Statewide Energy Assessment (SEA)

  The Energy Assessment is a statewide review of the supply, engineering, and deliverability of natural gas, electricity, and propane systems, as well as contingency planning related to those systems. The Energy Assessment culminated with a final report published on September 11, 2019.

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• MPSC Technical Conference on Emergency Preparedness, Distribution Reliability, and Storm Response

  On August 25, 2021, the Michigan Public Service Commission (the Commission) issued an order opening MPSC Case No. U-21122 seeking to collect additional data from Michigan's investor owned utilities on several issues related to reliability work as well as seeking to better understand planning and restoration efforts related to the August 2021 storms.

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• Natural Gas Curtailment Procedures Workgroup

  The Natural Gas Utility Curtailment Procedures Workgroup is collaboratively working to review and discuss whether natural gas curtailment procedures should be updated to prioritize natural gas use for residential heating over natural gas use for electric generation when appropriate during energy emergencies.

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• Mutual Aid Agreements and Transmission Contingency Planning Workgroup

  The Mutual Aid Agreements and Transmission Contingency Planning Workgroup is collaboratively working to review and discuss the development of mutual aid agreements for all natural gas distribution utilities, and how best to facilitate the development of gas transmission contingency planning.

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• Data Accessibility Stakeholder Forum

  The Data Accessibility Stakeholder Forum was created to develop more refined, clear, and consistent language addressing customer data accessibility as utilities comply with billing rules – particularly, R 460.153 (2) (g) which requires utilities to “provide clear instructions regarding the method by which a customer and a third party, authorized by the customer, may obtain customer usage data in a timely manner and a readily accessible format from the utility.”

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• Demand Response Aggregation

  The Commission directed Staff to work with interested stakeholders to discuss issues related to demand response aggregation. Staff held a series of stakeholder meetings to discuss aggregation issues and filed a report presenting its findings on May 30, 2019.

   

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• Third-Party Community Energy Projects Workgroup

  The MPSC Staff is leading a stakeholder engagement process to examine the potential opportunities and barriers to third-party community energy projects that could be integrated into utility planning and procurement processes.

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• Distributed Generation & Legacy Net Metering Rules

  The Commission directed Staff to initiate a stakeholder process with the purpose of gathering input to update the Electric Interconnection and Net Metering Standards to reflect the new distributed generation program and changes in the availability of the net metering program as a result of 2016 Acts 341 and 342.

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• PURPA - Legally Enforceable Obligation

  The Commission directed Staff to initiate a stakeholder process with the purpose of gathering input to assist with developing rules for defining and establishing a legally enforceable obligation (LEO) under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978.

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