To revise many details of regulatory regime for electric utilities. Among other things, this and Senate Bill 438 would phase out a mandate that utilities get 10 percent of their power from “renewable” sources and another mandate that they must reduce the amount of energy they produce each year; place additional limitations on customers using an “alternative" generator under the state’s limited electricity customer choice law and additional requirements on those generators; require utilities to produce and get regulator approval of detailed “integrated resource plans;” place additional requirements and restrictions on building new power plants; accommodate “carbon sequestration” schemes associated with new power plants; and more.   Official Text and Analysis.

With the recommendation that the substitute (S-4) be adopted and that the bill then pass.

To revise procedural details of provisions dealing with the 10 percent of the commercial electricity market where the monopoly utilities face competition, and of the centralized state power grid planning process the bill would create.

To require utilities give customers a chance to "opt out" from having advanced "smart meters" installed to meter their consumption and bill accordingly.

To create an exception to DTE's electric generation monopoly for a particular southeast Michigan oil refinery that wants to buy electricity from a competing generator.

To re-write the state law regulating electric utility monopolies. The Senate-passed version of the bill is premised on Obama EPA regulations forcing closure of existing coal-fired generating plants and ordering states to re-organize their electric power grid systems. It would essentially replace a market-driven process for new power plant capacity and site decisions with a centralized state process. On its face the bill retains current provisions that allow other power generators to compete with monopoly utilities for a 10 percent slice of the commercial market, but the businesses that buy power this way say the bill's details would end competition. The bill would also increase a mandate that utilities get more power from so-called renewable sources.

To revise details of the rate setting process and the centralized process for new power plant capacity and site decisions the bill would impose.

To revise details of a process that deals with the consequences of cost overruns on facilities to be built according to the proposed centralized process for new power plant capacity and site decisions.

To require public hearings on certain issues related to rates and utilities in the Upper Peninsula.

To revise details of the process for determining how much of the market for commercial customers may be open to competition.

To revise details of the rate setting process and the centralized process for new power plant capacity and site decisions the bill would establish.

To replace the previous version of the bill with one that revises details that incorporate the proposed compromise.

To tie-bar the bill to House Bill 4683, meaning this bill cannot become law unless that one does also. HB 4683 would require the state Public Services Commission to create “integrated resource plans” for electric power generation in the different regions of the state.

To revise details to accommodate the compromise that reportedly will allow some commercial electricity customers to retail their ability to shop for an alternative generation provider.

To "grandfather" the rates paid to customers with small solar collectors or other generation systems that get paid for electricity they feed back into the grid, called "net metering." Reportedly the current payment or credit amounts exceed market rates, and the bill includes a process to correct this.

To establish a process for eventually connecting the Upper and Lower Peninsula electricity grids.

To re-write the state law regulating electric utility monopolies. The bill replaces the current market-driven process for new power plant capacity and site decisions with a more centralized process inspired by Obama-era regulations expected to be repealed in 2017. The bill also increases from 10 percent to 15 percent the amount of power that utilities must get from renewable sources, which could mean hundreds of additional industrial wind turbine towers in rural communities. The final version leaves in place a small amount of electricity provider competition available to some commercial customers.