All Things Old Are New Again

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We were immediately struck by the cover headlines and the content because the focus was on energy efficiency, home insulation, wind energy, and the future of nuclear energy. We checked the date just to make sure we weren’t looking at a current issue. Wow, talk about “back to the future.” Topics of interest in [...]

We were immediately struck by the cover headlines and the content because the focus was on energy efficiency, home insulation, wind energy, and the future of nuclear energy. We checked the date just to make sure we weren’t looking at a current issue. November 1980 cover Wow, talk about “back to the future.” Topics of interest in 1980 are back in the headlines today as your cooperative, along with every other energy provider across the nation, wrestles with a national focus on the role of clean-coal generation, renewable energy, nuclear energy, and an overriding policy debate on how to address climate change issues. At the same time, we are faced with an aging generation fleet that needs replacing as demand for electricity continues to grow. Michigan’s electric cooperatives and the other electric and gas utilities are just starting to implement the recently passed “Clean, Renewable, and Efficient Energy Act,” a state mandate for all electric providers to incorporate up to 10 percent renewable energy into the power supply by 2015, and for all energy providers to begin implementing utility-based energy efficiency programs that will ultimately reduce consumer usage by at least 1 percent per year. These plans are to be filed at the Michigan Public Service Commission in early February and, after approval, will be rolled out in late summer. Although we don’t know the actual cost of these programs just yet, the intent is that they will cost less than the savings they bring to consumers in reduced energy usage and in comparison to the cost of generating electricity from a new coal-fired power plant. When this legislation was passed, the electric cooperatives, along with other consumer groups, raised concerns about cost controls. As we have stated in the pages of Michigan Country Lines before, as cooperatives we are not opposed to renewable energy. We have taken a leadership position in developing new renewable energy assets throughout the state. What we are opposed to is renewable energy at any cost. We recognize that there must be a balance between incorporating renewable energy and energy efficiency and the cost to the member-consumer who ultimately pays for everything. It is our intent that the plans we file in February strike just the right balance. Stay tuned.

Reader Comments

March 5th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Tom Karas of Interlochen Said:

Mike, thanks for making a cost relationship between energy efficiency measures and the cost of power from a NEW coal plant. What most estimates give is a 3-4 cent per kilowatt-hour [cost] for implementing energy efficiency measures. Most folks in Michigan are paying 7-10 cents per kilowatt-hour for OLD coal and nuclear energy, and estimates for the cost of energy for new power from a new coal plant will be upwards of 18 cents per kilowatt-hour for new coal and more than that for new nukes. Energy efficiency is the cheapest, and quickest to implement, new energy source.

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