Michigan PSC Releases Recommendations Meant to Lower Energy Costs for Families

Contact: Emily Halvorson

Yesterday, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) released a series of legislative recommendations aimed at lowering household energy prices. The recommendations focus on reducing unnecessary utility spending, ensuring large energy users like data centers pay their fair share, and creating stronger incentives for utilities to prioritize affordability and reliability. In response, Evergreen Action Midwest Director Courtney Brady released the following statement: 

“Michigan families shouldn’t have to keep paying more for energy when there are clear solutions to bring bills down. It’s time to be honest about what’s actually driving these costs: utilities overspending on things that won’t deliver customer savings, data centers drawing enormous amounts of power without paying their fair share, and a model that prioritizes monopoly utility profits over savings for the families paying the bills. 

“These recommendations cannot be treated as just suggestions—it’s on the Legislature and MPSC to work together with urgency. We need to move swiftly to put in place strong data center guardrails and checks on monopoly utilities so we can deliver the affordable, reliable, clean energy system Michigan families deserve.” 

In April, Evergreen and NRDC partnered with Synapse Energy Economics to release an independent analysis showing that requiring data centers to pay their full share, incorporating more customer-owned power like batteries and rooftop solar, and reining in excessive utility profit margins could save the average Michigan household nearly $800 by 2030. 

Find the full analysis here.