LANSING – With most of the state’s electric and natural gas utilities launching their energy efficiency programs over the coming month, the Public Service Commission on Monday invited those utilities and related contractors to join in an effort to improve those programs.

PSC Chair Orijakor Isiogu said it would take some work to get the new programs operating most effectively. The goal of the Energy Optimization Collaborative is to get those ideas on the table as well as to come up with ways to measure the programs.

“Michigan has not had a focus on energy efficiency in 15 years,” Isiogu said.

The goal of the programs, though, is to turn the $387 million expected to go into the programs into $1.2 billion in energy savings and other avoided costs, he said.

“It’s an effective and proven approach that will help our customers reduce their use while saving money in the process,” said John Russell, CEO of Consumers Energy. “All of our customers have the power to save energy and the power to save money.”

James Crisp, executive director of the Michigan Community Action Agency Association, said the weatherization programs his groups have been running since the 1970s can cut utility bills as much as 25 percent for some older homes.

Other programs that would be covered by the energy optimization charges customers will be seeing on their utility bills include a program by Detroit Edison, DTE’s electric utility, to provide customers with free pickup and a $50 certificate for replacing an older refrigerator, said Edison President Steve Kurmas.

The state’s largest utilities, Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, are both rolling out efficiency plans for both residential and business customers by the end of July, officials said.

For those smaller utilities, the state-operated program will be in place in the coming weeks as well, said Paul Proudfoot, director of the PSC Electric Reliability Division. He said the contract for that program should be approved shortly, but was not at a point where the contractor could be announced Monday.

In addition to spreading good ideas, and failures, among the utilities, Proudfoot said a goal of the collaborative is to keep all of the programs seamless. “We want to coordinate the programs so the programs are all similar enough because the utilities have overlapping regions,” he said.

Proudfoot said the program also would help to boost local economies. “The type of work that’s involved with energy efficiency is generally local labor force specific,” he said. “You don’t bring in crews from out of state to weatherize homes.”

The first meeting of the collaborative is set for July 28 at 1:30 p.m. at the commission offices, 6545 Mercantile Way, Lansing

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