Two citizen-led ballot initiatives seek to rein in Michigan’s powerful electric utilities as residents say politicians have failed to address pressing issues around controversial datacenters, high energy rates and poor electric reliability.
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politicians → lead → datacenters
On Tuesday, voters statewide will consider a nation-leading ban on political donations by the state’s deeply unpopular regulated utilities.
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voters → consider → utilities
At the same time, organizers in Ann Arbor, one the state’s largest cities, are proposing to banish utility giant DTE Energy by municipalizing the grid.
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organizers → propose → grid
It would establish a public power company to deliver energy.
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It → establish → energy
The two initiatives are not coordinated, but are borne out of increasing frustration over energy delivery and datacenters.
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initiatives → coordinate → delivery
The citizen-led campaigns represent test cases that could help gauge the US public’s appetite for structural change in the nation’s politically powerful utility industry, and what is legally possible, organizers say.
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organizers → lead → industry
DTE and Consumers Energy are among the nation’s largest utilities, and serve about 80% of Michigan’s customers.
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DTE → serve → customers
They have supported dark money non-profits, Pacs and front groups to attack the proposals, while their allies among city of Ann Arbor leadership have filed a last minute lawsuit to stop the public power initiative.
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allies → support → initiative
If voters approve either proposal, a bitter legal fight is virtually guaranteed.
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fight → approve → proposal
The utility-aligned group opposing the political spending ban, Protect MI Free Speech, has claimed the initiative violates free speech protections under the Citizens United ruling that struck down limits on companies’ donations to candidates.
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that → align → candidates
But the proposal’s architects say they have figured out a way around Citizens United.
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they → say → United
Regardless, the initiatives underscore the broader, growing discontent with many of the nation’s large utilities, said Karlee Weinmann, a researcher with the utility industry watchdog, Energy and Policy Institute.
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Weinmann → underscore → watchdog
“What we’re seeing on a number of levels is the utilities’ political influence operations begin to break down under the weight of this public outrage over high bills, poor service, and lack of accountability, and I think both initiatives are reflective of that in their own ways,” Weinmann said.
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Weinmann → see → ways
Michigan consistently ranks among the nation’s worst in terms of frequency and length of outages, federal data shows.
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data → rank → outages
Each year, DTE and Consumers propose steep rate hikes, and they ally themselves with unpopular datacenters because the energy-hungry facilities demand fossil fuel resources that are profitable to utilities.
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that → propose → utilities
The problems in Michigan “are a microcosm of the nation”, said Christy McGillivray, the Michiganders for Money Out of Politics executive board co-chair.
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McGillivray → say → Politics
She said voters understand that political spending is a root cause of the problems – 93% of legislators took utility industry money in a recent session.
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% → say → session
Optimism is high as the Ann Arbor public power initiative appears to have momentum, and recent polling found broad bi-partisan support statewide for the political spending ban, with 71% of respondents backing it.
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% → appear → it
“There’s so much energy and momentum behind this,” McGillivray said.
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McGillivray → ’ → this
“Pay-to-play politics keeps elected officials from actually tackling what voters really want, which is real solutions to the cost of living and utility bills, and they won’t if utilities keep bankrolling their campaigns.”
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utilities → pay → campaigns
State Proposition 2 would prohibit regulated gas and electric utilities, or companies with more than $250,000 in government contracts, from making political contributions.
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Proposition → prohibit → contributions
It would also block executives and their immediate family members, as well as other people with close connections to the companies, from making donations.
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It → block → donations
In Ann Arbor, Proposal E would establish a new board to direct and manage the establishment of a city-owned electric utility.
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E → establish → utility
That utility, after a second vote, would replace DTE Energy as the city’s electric supplier.
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utility → replace → supplier
Brian Geiringer, the executive director of Ann Arbor for Public Power, said that DTE is unpopular in Ann Arbor because of, among other reasons, the unreliable service, general resistance to clean energy and a lack of accountability.
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DTE → say → accountability
The appeal in the public utility model lies in the direct, democratic control over an essential service, he said.
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he → lie → service
“The question of whether a private, shareholder corporation or publicly owned entity that you’re a part of is in control of your electricity – that is an extremely poignant question at this moment,” Gerringer said.
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Gerringer → own → moment
In a statement to the Guardian, Katie Carey, a Consumers Energy spokesperson, noted that the campaign against utility spending and their environmental nonprofit allies, also take dark money.
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campaign → note → money
The proposal “won’t eliminate money in politics – it will simply shift influence away from Michigan companies and toward wealthy national donors and special interests, similar to the dark money funders of their ballot proposal”, Carey wrote.
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Carey → eliminate → proposal
“Meanwhile, local employers and their employees risk being sidelined.”
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employers → risk → ?
DTE and Protect MI Vote, its affiliated anti-Proposal 2 group, did not respond to requests for comment.
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DTE → respond → comment
But Protect MI Vote told the Detroit News: “This is not over on November 3.
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This → tell → November
We believe … this is going to go on for years.
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this → believe → years
And it’s going to cost a lot of money to protect people’s first amendment freedoms.
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it → go → freedoms
A confluence of frustrations
DTE and Consumers are “regulated monopolies” with full control over their service territories, but their broad level business decisions, such as rate increases, decisions about grid maintenance and clean energy plans, must be approved by state regulators.
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decisions → regulate → regulators
Consumer advocacy groups allege that the Michigan public services commission, which regulates the utilities and is led by governor appointees, has largely allowed the companies to prioritize shareholder and industry interests over residential customers’ needs.
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companies → allege → needs
DTE for decades failed to adequately keep up with replacing ageing equipment, tree trimming maintenance and other grid maintenance, industry experts have said.
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experts → fail → equipment
That left the grid vulnerable to strong storms.
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That → leave → storms
Many of the problems originated under GOP leadership, and in 2023 Democrats took full control of the state government for the first time in 40 years, ushering in new hope that the party would rein in the utilities.
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party → originate → utilities
That did not happen.
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That → happen → ?
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
