The issue: high energy prices hurt business development

• The wholesale price of energy in Michigan is one of the highest in the Midwest (the state ranked highest or second highest more than 90% of the time over the last 22 months). This makes it difficult to attract new manufacturers and other electricity-intensive businesses to our state. Further, Michigan has little in the way of indigenous fuel. This requires massive amounts of coal to be imported across thousands of miles each day, resulting in an entrenched higher cost structure.

The solution: regional power transmission investment

• A strong Midwest energy market will keep Michigan strong. Our state is interconnected to the larger region, and strengthening the regional transmission grid will increase Michigan’s competitiveness.
• Benefits to consumers from the state being opened to lower-cost sources of energy are estimated at $13 to $19 per year, according to Midwest ISO’s calculations.
• Some organizations oppose the recently approved regional transmission cost sharing proposal because it will allow a regional transmission grid to be built, resulting in a competitive interstate energy market that will provide access to a variety of lower cost generation sources that Michigan cannot provide. Critics of this plan will also have you believe that consumers in Michigan are paying an unfair portion of the cost of this regional transmission investment. The fact is each consumer in Michigan would pay the exact same amount per kilowatt hour as any other consumer in the Midwest region.