Michigan's New Energy Plan.. Be WARY

Michigan Utilities in 2000 had the pleasure of facing competition for the first time ever. While for some it seemed silly, that a company which produces NO energy, could sell you energy which was produced by the same people they were in competition with. Strangely, it seemed to work. And it worked well for about 4 years as the data shows. Four years after the deregulation which allowed the competition, lawmakers started tinkering with what seemed to be keeping prices down and offering safety nets to the big players.

NOW, the utilities want to go back to the pre 2000 set up, and are taking advantage of the HYPE generated by the climate change apocalypse callers to make statements about renewable sources of energy, and the confusion surrounding the whole essence of the situation. The big utilities want guaranteed customers before building expensive power plants.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on this particular subject, but is that even necessary?

Before any REAL business makes a decision, it weighs out whether there is need. The business owners decide that they can, or cannot provide a product at a price point to make it reliable and available, and make a profit for the shareholders. In this case they would like to strap us to our seats, and tell us what we will buy and when, and at their price.

Millions are being spent on TV advertising, and radio telling us that if we don’t support monopolistic power generation, we will all pay, and pay dearly. MILLIONS are being spent to revert government policy to supporting and protecting inefficient monopolies.

Modern day transmission of power has become highly efficient and allows large distances between providers and customers. In My not so humble opinion, those millions might be better spent advertising their wares to other states, or encourage other states to adopt competitive policies which would allow them a wider customer base. Michigan Legislators might also consider repealing the safety nets for the big guys as well, which would force them to be efficient, lean and affordable.