Lansing battle lines being drawn with competing energy bills

Competing bills in Lansing will impact the future of solar energy producers in the state.

LANSING — For several weeks, supporters of rooftop solar generation in Michigan have told Senate energy policymakers that a bill that’s being touted as reforming the practice would kill the state’s burgeoning solar industry.

Lawmakers in the state House say they’ve found an “antidote” to pending Senate legislation sponsored by Sen. John Proos, R-St. Joseph, that would require small solar customers to sell excess electricity to the utilities at wholesale rates and buy what they use at retail prices.

A bipartisan package of bills expected to be introduced this week would offer protections for renewable energy producers, including the fewer than 2,000 rooftop solar owners that also participate in “net metering.”

Proos’ bill essentially eliminates net metering and replaces it with a program that reimburses customers at wholesale rates, a rate three times lower than the retail rate they are now paid.
During a Senate energy committee hearing in July, Proos said his bill “takes the state out of the picking of winners and losers.”

Opponents say the changes would make it less cost-effective for people to install their own solar arrays and shrink the industry, making it harder for solar companies to expand.

The House bills’ sponsors — Reps. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor; Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan; Scott Dianda, D-Calumet; and Gary Glenn, R-Midland — say they agree. They have dubbed their bill package “energy freedom” legislation.

“I think we have the antidote to that particular poison,” Irwin, referring to Proos’ bill, told reporters on a conference call last week.

The House bills would remove caps for small-scale solar energy producers; allow families, businesses, churches and other groups to access renewable energy through cooperatives called “community renewable energy gardens,” which would allow a group of users to share in the upfront production costs and receive credits based on how much they generate; and set market-based prices for renewable producers.

Utilities say current practice amounts to a subsidy for net metering customers at a rate of 10 cents for every 15 cents they pay for electricity at the expense of other ratepayers, because rooftop solar customers pay less to access the grid. Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. said in a statement it will oppose any proposal that continues current practice.

One thing is for certain: It will be an interesting fall.

Debates over energy policy are expected to heat up when the Legislature returns after Labor Day. At least three bills are pending — sponsors include Proos; Sen. Mike Nofs, R-Battle Creek and chairman of the Senate’s energy committee; and Rep. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, chairman of the House’s energy policy committee.

The Senate’s energy committee last week wrapped testimony on Proos’ bill, which also would repeal the state’s existing mandate that utilities generate some of their electricity from renewable sources. The mandate would be replaced with a process, integrated resource planning, that would consider renewables as part of setting utilities’ rates.

Additional hearings are scheduled this month.

Irwin and his coalition say the idea of increased energy choice could be part of any final energy policy, and they don’t see it as a decision about one plan versus another.

They could hold sway. McBroom, Dianda and Glenn all are members of the House’s energy policy committee. Glenn is majority vice chairman.

“Shouldn’t Michigan residents be able to generate their own energy and feed that back into the grid we’ve all built?” Irwin said, adding that his legislation would give electric customers “the freedom they deserve to be part of our energy future.”