EDITOR:

The recent uproar over Michigan’s high electricity rates deserves real scrutiny, but not just of DTE or Consumers Energy. What’s driving our bills through the roof isn’t executive pay or lobbying. It’s a radical, top-down energy agenda being pushed by Lansing politicians and rubber-stamped by bureaucrats.

In 2023, Governor Whitmer signed legislation forcing Michigan’s utilities to provide 100% “clean” energy by 2040. This includes a 50% mandate by 2030 and 60% by 2035. These are some of the most aggressive mandates in the country. They require utilities to abandon reliable, affordable fossil fuels, especially natural gas, and pour billions into wind, solar, batteries, and costly grid upgrades. And guess who’s footing the bill? We are.

green energy transition sounds noble until you see the price tag, and consider the fact that they are actually not cleaner than fossil fuels. DTE recently requested a $574 million rate increase. Consumers Energy followed with an even bigger one; $436 million annually, the largest in company history. Why? Because these companies are now forced to rip out dependable gas plants and replace them with expensive, intermittent and inefficient solar panels and wind turbines. The state can pretend this is about “saving the planet,” but the truth is clear: our energy bills are skyrocketing because of mandates we don’t need.

Let’s be honest, natural gas is not the problem. It’s one of the cleanest, safest, and most abundant energy sources in America. It produces a fraction of the emissions coal once did, and it’s been the main reason the U.S. has reduced carbon emissions over the last decade. Natural gas provides dependable baseload power during harsh Michigan winters and severe storms, when solar and wind can’t deliver. It’s also cheap, at least it was, before politicians started regulating it out of existence.

Instead of embracing this reliable resource, our state is doubling down on unreliable “renewables” that require government subsidies to survive. The wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always shine, the solar panels lose efficiency and the wind turbines burn up and pollute. But the bills? They keep coming, higher than ever. As a side note, solar panels also need to be cleaned regularly and in Michigan, snow removed.

If you’re frustrated with high rates, don’t just blame the utility companies and CEOs. Look at the politicians who passed laws forcing these changes and the regulators approving every penny of these rate hikes in the name of climate ideology. It’s not about modernizing the grid or protecting the environment. It’s about pushing a political agenda, no matter how much it costs working families.

Enough is enough. We don’t need 100% “clean energy” by 2040. What we need is affordable, reliable energy now, and that means standing up for natural gas and pushing back against extreme mandates that do nothing but raise our cost of living.

Gregory Tolman Sr.

Escanaba