August 21, 2025
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The MPSC today accepted annual capacity demonstrations by all of Michigan’s electricity providers, showing that each has sufficient capacity to meet electricity customer needs four years into the future (Case No. U-21775).
The Commission accepted MPSC Staff’s Capacity Demonstration Results Report, which is required under the state’s energy laws, for the 2028-2029 planning year. The state reliability mechanism capacity demonstration requirement applies to all load-serving entities, or LSEs, including investor-owned electric utilities, alternative electric suppliers, cooperative electric utilities and municipal electric utilities.
Under Michigan’s robust energy laws and planning requirements, all utilities and LSEs must show each year that they own or have contracted for enough electric capacity resources to meet obligations set by the MPSC and the regional transmission organizations (RTOs) that manage the state’s electric grid.
Michigan’s laws require proving enough electric generation four years into the future, exceeding requirements set by its two RTOs, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which covers most of the state, and PJM, which manages part of southwest Michigan. The RTOs operate near-term capacity markets under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission tariffs.
Looking further out gives electricity providers more time to plan for when they may need to build or buy additional resources, improving the likelihood that enough capacity will be there to meet customer needs, even during periods of extreme temperatures. This approach helps keep the cost of electricity lower by reducing the risk of price spikes or the need to purchase more expensive electricity from wholesale energy markets when demand is high and supplies tight.
Capacity demonstrations are coupled with Michigan’s long-term integrated resource plans, or IRPs, through which utilities model future demand over a period of at least 20 years, with specific reporting of 5-year, 10-year and 15-year projections.
IRPs address long-term electric issues including the planned retirement of current electricity generation resources, the planned or anticipated need for new power generation, the appropriate mix of different electric capacity resources to meet customer needs, laws and regulations, and the timing for building or acquiring those new resources. IRPs also address programs that impact utility customer pocketbooks, such as home or business energy efficiency efforts that reduce utility bills and programs to address utility affordability.
In addition to accepting the MPSC Staff’s current capacity demonstration report, the Commission today also accepted Staff’s 2025 statewide energy storage target calculation and set dates for utilities and LSEs to file their next capacity demonstrations and related reports in Case No. U-21907.
MPSC TAKES NEXT STEPS ON GAS-ELECTRIC COORDINATION
The MPSC accepted a status report from the MPSC’s Natural Gas Curtailment Procedures Workgroup and adopted its recommendations, directing MPSC Staff to continue working with industry organizations on the issue of cooperability between natural gas and electric utilities during emergencies (Case No. U-20632). The natural gas workgroup is examining issues related to whether residential heating needs should be prioritized over the use of natural gas for electricity generation during emergencies as the state’s electric utilities increasingly use natural gas to generate power, a key issue identified in the Commission’s 2019 Statewide Energy Assessment. The Commission directed Staff to form a collaborative with representatives from the MPSC; natural gas and electric utilities; interstate pipeline operators; Michigan’s two regional transmission organizations (RTOs), the Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. and PJM Interconnection LLC; any other relevant RTOs; other organizations as appropriate; and any other interested persons. Staff must file a report of findings and recommendations on the matter in Case No. U-21940 by Feb. 26, 2027.
COMMISSION DENIES REHEARING IN CONSUMERS ENERGY POWER SUPPLY COST RECOVERY RECONCILIATION CASE
The Commission denied a petition for a rehearing on a matter involved in Consumers Energy Co.’s power supply cost recovery reconciliation for the 2022 calendar year approved by the Commission in April (Case No. U-21049). Cadillac Renewable Energy LLC, a biomass merchant plant that provides electricity to Consumers Energy under a long-term contract, argued that Consumers had misinterpreted hold-harmless provisions of a reduced dispatch agreement that was part of a May 1997 power purchase agreement between the utility and Cadillac and other biomass merchants, and that Consumers also improperly excluded nitrogen oxide allowance costs, resulting in an underpayment of $480,333.44. The Commission determined that Cadillac’s arguments were properly considered and addressed in the MPSC’s April order and denied the rehearing request.
MPSC ANNOUNCES SECOND OF 2 HEARINGS ON FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED IN ELECTRIC UTILITIES’ LONG-RANGE PLANS
The MPSC announced the second of two public hearings giving Michiganders the chance to have their say on how certain factors should be included in state utilities’ long-term planning to ensure they can produce enough electricity to meet customer energy needs (Case No. U-21867). The Commission previously announced it would hold its first public hearing on the topic on Sept. 9, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Eberhard Center, 301 W. Fulton Street in Grand Rapids. The second hearing will be Oct. 27, 6-7:30 p.m. at Oakland Community College’s Auburn Hills campus in Building 7, Room 123, at 2900 Featherstone Road. The hearing will focus on what’s formally known as integrated resource plan (IRP) planning parameters; IRPs are long-range utility plans for modeling the future of energy demand, and the planning parameters are the factors that utilities must consider in their IRPs. The Commission also will seek public comment on draft IRP filing requirements; clean energy plan filing requirements for rate-regulated electric utilities; the clean energy plan for municipally owned utilities, and the clean energy plan for electric cooperatives and alternative energy suppliers. Interested persons also may file written or electronic comments on these issues by 5 p.m. Oct. 31, 2025, with reply comments due Nov. 14. Comments may be mailed to Executive Secretary, Michigan Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 30221, Lansing, MI 48909, emailed to mpscedockets@michigan.gov, or submitted in the case docket in the MPSC’s E-Dockets system. All comments should reference Case No. U-21867 and clearly identify the specific document being addressed.
For information about the MPSC, visit www.michigan.gov/mpsc, sign up for its monthly newsletter or other listservs. Follow the MPSC on Facebook, X/Twitter or LinkedIn.
To look up cases from today’s meeting, access the MPSC’s E-Dockets filing system.
Watch recordings of the MPSC’s meetings on the MPSC’s YouTube channel.
DISCLAIMER: This document was prepared to aid the public’s understanding of certain matters before the Commission and is not intended to modify, supplement, or be a substitute for the Commission’s orders. The Commission’s orders are the official action of the Commission.
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