LANSING – Two bills making major changes to Michigan’s utility and electric energy system, but still maintaining some provisions from the 2008 energy legislation especially with small generators of alternative energy, were reported to the full Senate this afternoon by the Senate Energy and Technology Committee.
The bills are the latest substitutes to SB 437 and SB 438 the committee has worked on since early 2015 (some amendments were adopted) and the committee action is one of the most significant steps the Legislature has taken on the issue in this session. The substitutes were issued earlier this week.
SB 437 was reported on a 6-1 vote, with Sen. Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) voting no and the three committee Democrats abstaining. SB 438, which deals with most the elements of renewable energy, was reported on a 7-0 vote, again with Democrats abstaining.
In response to some critics who worried the bills would take away the ability of small generators of electricity for their own use, the bills allow for the current provision on net metering – letting a generator sell excess capacity to utilities – for the next 10 years. But utility executives said it was also critical that alternative generators contribute to the maintenance of the grid.
The bills also call for the state to achieve 35 percent of its “electric needs” through a combination of energy waste reduction and generation of renewable resources. But efforts to restore a legal requirement that the state meet a renewal portfolio standard failed.
And supporters of greater choice blasted the package as killing overall electric choice.
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