MPSC adopts steps to improve electric resilience for critical community facilities in Michigan

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The MPSC today took steps to improve electric service resilience for critical and priority community facilities such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, police and fire stations, 911 call centers and more (Case No. U-21388).

The Commission today approved 13 recommendations from MPSC Staff to strengthen reliability requirements for important critical and priority facilities important to a community’s health and safety and to better align the MPSC’s Service Quality Rules and Technical Standards with industry requirements for reslience of specific critical facilities.

As part of the MPSC’s work to improve outcomes for customers during extreme weather events, the Commission in 2023 directed MPSC Staff to review service quality rules and the resilience requirements of critical facilities so they could continue to operate during a power outage or be restored quickly thereafter. The Commission also directed Staff to file a straw proposal by December 2024 with recommendations to improve critical facility energy resilience.

Staff filed the proposal Dec. 2, 2024, that outlined a set of more than a dozen recommendations, and the Commission sought additional comment on the proposal. The staff recommendations included:

• Requiring representatives from DTE Electric and Consumers Energy to meet annually with critical facility customers to discuss resilience needs and develop appropriate communications plans.
• Requiring all regulated utilities to inform MPSC Staff in advance of major weather events of the anticipated number of customer outages, actions taken to prepare, and appropriate company contacts during storm events.
• Mandating service restoration to critical facilities within 72 hours of an outage and if not met, requiring utilities to provide evidence explaining why a restoration couldn’t be completed in that timeline. This requirement aligns with other state and federal regulations, including Michigan rules that require hospitals to be able to withstand a power outage of up to 72 hours, to ensure continuity of service at critical facilities even during times of extended utility outages. The Commission directed Indiana Michigan Power Co., to provide detailed plans to MPSC Staff, within six months, on how the company will meet the objectives of this requirement with its Priority 1 through Priority 5 service restoration coding system.
• Directing utilities to hold annual meetings with local government emergency managers to discuss restoration and reliability issues with critical facility customers located within their city or county, and for utilities to review lists of critical facilities for accuracy with state emergency management coordinators and review critical facility designation biennially.
• Requiring MPSC Staff and utility representatives to determine potential areas of improvement for identifying and prioritizing individual households with critical care customers during sustained outages.
• Directing regulated utilities to file summary outage reports after major interruptions that includes a cumulative outage total, the number of wires down, the number of outside crews called in to assist restoration, and other info within 14 days of service restoration.
• Authorizing utilities to release private customer data — limited to a customer’s name, address and contact info — to the Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division and the State Emergency Operations Center, which coordinates emergency response, during and after major interruptions, for the purposes of customer health and safety or for federal disaster reimbursement.

The work is part of the MPSC’s intensive focus on improving the electric grid’s reliability and resilience, spurred by significant storms in February 2023 that left about a million customers of DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy Co. without power.

Other steps the Commission has taken in recent years include:

• Initiating a first-ever comprehensive, third-party audit of the electric systems of DTE Electric and Consumers Energy, the state’s two largest electric utilities.
• Approving additional funding for utility tree trimming to shorten the cycle of how often trees and other vegetation are trimmed, resulting in significant reductions in service interruptions on circuits with stepped-up vegetation management.
• Increasing customer power outage credits from a one-time $25 credit to a daily credit — currently $42 per day, 68% higher than before the Commission revamped outage credits in 2023 — that is indexed annually to inflation and automatically paid by utilities to affected customers, who previously had to request it from their energy provider.

In separate matters, the Commission today approved two matters dealing with Alpena Power Co. and the catastrophic March 28-30 ice storm that paralyzed northern Michigan.

The Commission approved a settlement agreement governing customer outage bill credits that Alpena Power will pay to customers who endured lengthy outages from the storm (Case No. U-21912). Alpena Power had sought an exemption from having to pay outage credits because the ice storm impacted its entire service territory and all of its 16,755 customers as the region dealt with downed trees, impassable roads, downed and damaged power lines, damage to other utility equipment, and loss of cellular phone service and other communication. Under the settlement agreement between the utility, the Michigan Department of Attorney General, and MPSC Staff, Alpena Power will calculate and pay outage credits to customers within 90 days.

The Commission also approved Alpena Power’s application for accounting authority to defer operations and maintenance expenses from the storm. The utility estimates the storm will cost it $2.25 million in total restoration expenses, while the utility had budgeted for a normal year of about $500,000 for storm and outage response. The Commission noted that approval of the accounting treatment, which will not increase rates or charges for customers, does not mean approval of expenses themselves. The utility will still have to seek recovery of the restoration expenses in a future proceeding in which the Commission will evaluate the costs for reasonableness and prudence.

MPSC OKS SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON DTE ELECTRIC CO.’S INTERCONNECTION PROCEDURES

The MPSC today approved DTE Electric Co.’s application for approval of its interconnection procedures, accepting a settlement agreement that resolves all matters in the case (Case No. U-21482). Among other elements, the settlement agreement approved today includes a new process for how DTE Electric evaluates sizing of distributed generation systems, provides greater detail about when studies relating to the islanding of distributed energy systems will be required and how they will be conducted and clarifies the screening requirements for projects with a limited ability to export power to the broader electrical grid. The Commission in 2023 adopted new Interconnection and Distributed Generation Standards, which detail the rules and procedures for connecting distributed energy resources such as solar or battery storage to the electric grid. DTE Electric filed an initial application in May 2023. But new statutory requirements under the 2023 Michigan energy law revamp ultimately required DTE Electric to file a new application, which the utility filed in May 2024. Intervenors in the case were the Ecology Center; Environmental Law & Policy Center; Union of Concerned Scientists; Vote Solar; Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council; Institute for Energy Innovation; Advanced Energy United; and Energy Michigan. MPSC Staff also participated in the case. The participating organizations worked throughout much of 2025 to finalize the settlement agreement.

COMMISSION APPROVES CONSUMERS ENERGY’S POWER SUPPLY COST RECOVERY RECONCILIATION

The MPSC approved Consumers Energy Company’s application for approval of its power supply cost recovery (PSCR) reconciliation for the 2023 calendar year (Case No. U-21258). The Commission set a net PSCR underrecovery balance of $255,961,382, including interest, as the utility’s 2024 PSCR reconciliation beginning balance. The Commission also approved unopposed cost recovery amounts of $17,043,240 in capped costs and $2,386,253 in recoverable uncapped costs incurred by a number of biomass merchant plants that sell power to Consumers Energy. The Commission directed Consumers and the biomass plants to work ahead proactively to reconcile differences in recorded costs before testimony is filed in future cases. The MPSC set Consumers’ net financial compensation mechanism overrecovery balance of $2,518,161, including interest, as the company’s 2024 financial compensation mechanism calculation beginning balance. The Michigan Department of Attorney General intervened in the case, as did the Residential Customer Group, the Association of Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity, and the biomass plants. MPSC Staff also participated.

CONSUMERS ENERGY’S GAS COST RECOVERY RECONCILIATION APPROVED

The Commission approved Consumers Energy Co.’s application for approval of its gas cost recovery (GCR) plan reconciliation for the 12 months ending March 31, 2024 (Case No. U-21270). The Commission set a net overrecovery of $2,560,299, including interest, as the utility’s 2024-2025 GCR reconciliation beginning balance. The Michigan Department of Attorney General and the Retail Energy Supply Association intervened in the case. MPSC Staff also participated. 

MPSC APPROVES DTE ELECTRIC CO.’S DECKERVILLE SOLAR PARK PROJECT

The MPSC approved DTE Electric Co.’s application for approval to build a new solar project in Michigan’s Thumb meant to supply Ford Motor Co. with electricity generated from renewable sources (Case No. U-21285). The Commission approved DTE Electric’s Deckerville Solar Park Project, a 200-megawatt (MW) array to be located in Marion and Wheatland townships in Sanilac County. DTE Electric’s engineering procurement and construction master service agreement with Burns and McDonnell Michigan Inc. and a master supply agreement for solar panel modules with New East Solar Energy (America) Inc. also were approved. The Commission in December 2024 approved an amended and restated special solar energy contract between DTE Electric and Ford, updating a contract the Commission approved in 2022 for the utility to build up to 675 MW of dedicated solar projects through DTE Electric’s voluntary green pricing program to help the automaker meet its goal of powering its Michigan manufacturing plants with 100% renewable energy. Both the application in the current case and the original and updated 675 MW renewable power supply contracts between DTE Electric and Ford were approved by the Commission on an ex parte basis.

COMMISSION OKS INDIANA MICHIGAN POWER CO.’S POWER SUPPLY COST RECOVERY PLAN BUT WARNS SOME COSTS MAY NOT BE RECOVERABLE

The MPSC approved Indiana Michigan Power Co.’s (I&M) application for approval to implement a power supply cost recovery (PSCR) plan for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2025, but the Commission warned the utility that it may not be permitted to recover all of its costs associated with a pair of coal plants operating in Indiana and Ohio (Case No. U-21596). The Commission approved I&M’s proposed PSCR factor of 3.74 mills per kilowatt-hour for January and February 2025 and 3.58 mills per kilowatt-hour March through December 2025, as well as the utility’s five-year forecast. The Commission, however, issued a Section 7 warning that I&M may not be able to recover its full costs under the Ohio Valley Electric Corp.’s intercompany power agreement, similar to previous warnings that ultimately led to the Commission disallowing the ability of I&M to recover any excessive costs associated with these plants from Michigan customers. 

MPSC APPROVES UPDATES TO GAS SAFETY RULES

The MPSC today approved amendments to rules governing gas safety (Case No. U-21847). The Commission approved amending the state’s gas safety rules so that they adopt current federal gas safety standards and raise the threshold at which gas operators must report incidents to the MPSC, to $25,000 in estimated property damage from the current $10,000. With today’s approval, the Commission now submits the rule changes to the Legislative Service Bureau and the Michigan Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules for their formal approvals before the matter is transmitted to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

BW BROADBAND INC. RECEIVES PERMANENT BASIC LOCAL EXCHANGE PHONE SERVICE LICENSE

The MPSC today approved an application for a permanent license to provide basic local exchange phone service in Isabella County (Case No. U-21934). The Commission granted BW Broadband Inc. a permanent license to provide phone service in the Winn Exchange currently served by Winn Telephone Co. The Commission granted the company a temporary license on Aug. 21.

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To look up cases from today’s meeting, access the MPSC’s E-Dockets filing system.

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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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