Consumer Energy asks state regulators to delay decision on hydroelectric dam sale until November

Filed 1h ago · Via Michigan Advance · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Barroom Ballet

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: White House (Chuck Kennedy) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Consumers Energy asked Michigan regulators to delay a decision on selling 13 hydroelectric dams to Confluence Hydro, a private equity subsidiary, for a total of $13, in exchange for a 30-year power purchase agreement. Governor Gretchen Whitmer opposes the deal, citing the 2020 Edenville and Sanford dam failures and calling the company's proposed $270 million safety fund 'too little, too late, and too difficult to access.'

Environmental and business groups opposing the sale say Consumers has offered no evidence that a resolution is actually near, and asked the commission to deny both the delay and the sale outright. Separately, the same commission approved a $74.52 million rate increase for DTE Energy and a modest bump to outage credits, from $42 to $44.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Selling thirteen dams for thirteen dollars sounds like a joke until you remember what happened the last time a private dam owner in Michigan cut corners on maintenance. Asking for sixty more days to 'engage constructively' is a fine thing to say when the alternative was an outright no. The commission left it off the agenda instead of answering, which is its own kind of answer.

Source: Read the original at Michigan Advance → Scored: Barroom Ballet · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID