Workgroups

Public Act 166 of 2022 directed the Michigan Public Service Commission to engage an outside consulting firm to examine the feasibility of nuclear power generation in Michigan. Public Act 218 of 2022 provides for the parameters of the nuclear feasibility study. In response, on March 24, 2023, the Commission issued an order Case No. U-21358 establishing the Nuclear Feasibility Study workgroup.

The Low-Income Energy Policy Board guides the work of the Energy Affordability and Accessibility Collaborative and the Energy Waste Reduction Low-Income Workgroup and connects this work to other state agencies and efforts.  With a focus on effectuating affordability, equity, access, and environmental justice, the group's goal is to connect the expertise, experience, and perspectives of members and provide recommendations to the Commission to better serve low-income and vulnerable households with their energy needs. Board membership is by invitation and meetings are open to the public.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Public Act 87 of 2021 directed the Michigan Public Service Commission to conduct a study into the potential for renewable natural gas development in the state.  In part, PA 87 directs the Commission to identify and engage interested stakeholders in the development of the study.  The Commission issued a report to the legislature on the Renewable Natural Gas Study on Sept. 28, 2022.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

The Commission directed Staff to work with interested stakeholders to discuss issues related to demand response aggregation.

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.

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.

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.