The
Michigan Public Service Commission today approved an amended and restated power
purchase agreement (PPA) between Consumers Energy Co. and Midland
Cogeneration Venture LP (MCV) as well as a settlement involving contracts
between the utility and operators of the Midland power plant.
In Case
No. U-20896, the Commission approved the PPA amendment that gives
Consumers the unilateral option beginning Dec. 1, 2023, through March
15, 2024, of either purchasing the natural gas-fired combined electrical
energy and steam energy generating plant in Midland or extending its PPA
for five years at a reduced capacity rate. Consumers’ original PPA with
MCV was first dated July 1986 and was an avoided cost contract under the
federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act and amended and
restated in 2010.
Pursuant
to the option to purchase the plant or extend the PPA, Consumers and
MCV executed Amendment No. 2, dated October 7, 2020, extending the amended
and restated PPA from March 16, 2025, through May 31, 2030. This
means that the PPA will continue through the end of the regional
transmission operator Midcontinent Independent System
Operator’s resource adequacy period, ensuring that MCV receives
market revenue from zonal resource credits delivered to the company under the
PPA through the entire contract term.
Consumers
contends the Amendment No. 2 will have a number of benefits for
customers, including cost savings of $61.4 million compared to the
cost of allowing the amended and restated PPA to terminate on March 15, 2025,
and procuring replacement energy and capacity from the wholesale
market. The amendment also ensures a reliable capacity resource within
MISO’s Zone 7 between 2025 and 2030.
In Case
No. U-17953, the Commission also approved a settlement agreement
between Consumers and MCV stemming from long-running disagreements
involving the obligations in two of three natural gas transportation and
storage contracts. The Commission found the settlement in the public interest
and a fair and reasonable resolution to a dispute that began in
2015.
MPSC
REVOKES LICENSES OF BASIC LOCAL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDERS
The
MPSC today revoked licenses to provide basic local exchange service
for several companies that had been grossly deficient
in meeting statutory and regulatory requirements of local phone
service providers under the Michigan Telecommunications Act (Case
No. U-20892). The Commission revoked licenses for AirNorth Communications
Inc; CMC Telecom Inc.; Global Communications Network Inc. (formerly known
as Castle Wire Inc., formerly known as Business Communications
Analysts Inc.); IQ Telecom Inc.; Lucre Inc.; Michigan Access
Inc., and Rockford Telephone Co. Inc.
CONSUMERS
ENERGY RECONCILIATION SETTLEMENT APPROVED
The
MPSC today approved a settlement agreement between Consumers Energy Co.
and MPSC Staff reconciling revenues from an investment recovery mechanism
(IRM) approved for the utility in 2018 for the company to recover
annual revenue requirements associated with some of its capital expenditures
and direct expenses for specified distribution and transmission programs beyond
what was approved in rates (Case
No. U-20893). Consumers determined that it owes a refund of
$214,000 to customers attributable to the July-September 2019 billing
period. The money will appear as a per-customer credit on May 2021
customer bills.
To
look up cases from today’s meeting, access the E-Dockets filing system here.
To
watch recordings of the MPSC’s meetings, click here.
For
information about the MPSC, visit www.Michigan.gov/MPSC, sign up
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