I voted no on Senate Bills 271, 273, 502, and 519 because this legislation will increase monthly electric bills for Michigan families and make our state’s energy grid far less reliable. As families struggle with high inflation and cold weather, they need affordability and reliability. They deserve to know that the heat will kick on when they flip the switch and that they can afford to pay the utility bill at the end of the month. Instead, these bills force Michigan to close existing power plants and build out expensive and experimental technologies to replace them.
Those increased costs will be passed on to Michigan families in the form of higher rates they cannot afford. The bills even go so far as to eliminate existing caps on rate increases, allowing utility companies to charge unlimited amounts and raise monthly electric bills as much as they want.
The unreliable solar arrays and wind farms will also make our existing issues with grid reliability even worse. Local utility companies already struggle to keep the lights on when it snows, when it rains, when there is thunder, or when the wind blows. Moving Michigan further onto a grid overly reliant on perfect weather conditions will lead to spoiled food, dark rooms, and shivering children. It is a recipe for disaster.
Michigan families deserve lower monthly electric bills and more reliable service. These bills deliver neither of those things and actually make things worse for all of us on both fronts. For these reasons, I cannot and will not support these bills.”
Senate Bill No. 502, entitled
A bill to amend 1939 PA 3, entitled “An act to provide for the regulation and control of public and certain private utilities and other services affected with a public interest within this state; to provide for alternative energy suppliers; to provide for licensing; to include municipally owned utilities and other providers of energy under certain provisions of this act; to create a public service commission and to prescribe and define its powers and duties; to abolish the Michigan public utilities commission and to confer the powers and duties vested by law on the public service commission; to provide for the powers and duties of certain state governmental officers and entities; to provide for the continuance, transfer, and completion of certain matters and proceedings; to abolish automatic adjustment clauses; to prohibit certain rate increases without notice and hearing; to qualify residential energy conservation programs permitted under state law for certain federal exemption; to create a fund; to encourage the utilization of resource recovery facilities; to prohibit certain acts and practices of providers of energy; to allow for the securitization of stranded costs; to reduce rates; to provide for appeals; to provide appropriations; to declare the effect and purpose of this act; to prescribe remedies and penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,” by amending sections 6a, 6m, and 6t (MCL 460.6a, 460.6m, and 460.6t), sections 6a and 6m as amended and section 6t as added by 2016 PA 341, and by adding section 6aa.
The bill was read a third time.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
Rep. Aiyash moved to substitute (H-6) the bill.
The motion was seconded and the substitute (H-6) was adopted, a majority of the members serving voting therefor.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was then passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, by yeas and nays, as follows: