house resolution no.285

Reps. Markkanen, LaGrand, Rabhi, Rogers, Hood, Steckloff, Howell, Sowerby, Roth, Rendon and Beson offered the following resolution:

A resolution to requesting the Michigan Public Service Commission to provide a report to the House Energy Committee summarizing the proposals of regulated utilities pertaining to the distributed generation program in rate cases filed after June 1, 2018.

Whereas, In 2016, the Michigan Legislature approved Public Act 341 on a broad bi-partisan basis to restructure numerous aspects of Michigan’s electric utility system, including policies related to customers operating solar energy systems at their homes; and

Whereas, The Legislature directed the Michigan Public Service Commission to establish a new tariff and rate structure, known as the distributed generation program, for residential customers to be compensated for any surplus electricity supplied to the grid, based on an equitable cost of service; and

Whereas, The Commission has complied with this requirement by establishing an "inflow-outflow" tariff within the distributed generation program that identifies an equitable cost of service and fair rate of compensation to residential customers; and

Whereas, Whereas, the Michigan Senate respectfully requested through Senate Resolution 142 of 2020 that the Commission conduct a rate design study to determine if the distributed generation program was structured in a manner that would comply with the statutory equitable cost of service standard; and

Whereas, The study conducted by the Commission in response to Senate Resolution 142 concluded that the distributed generation "inflow-outflow" tariff determined in rate cases provides an equitable cost of service outcome for residential solar customers; and

Whereas, Since the establishment of the distributed generation program, a series of rate cases have been filed by multiple regulated utilities requesting additional charges, fees, or rates be applied to distributed generation residential customers; and

Whereas, It has been reported that the proposed charges, fees, or rates would penalize residential solar customers with higher costs for their energy use even while providing surplus energy to the grid; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we request the Michigan Public Service Commission to provide a report to the House Energy Committee summarizing the proposals of regulated utilities pertaining to the distributed generation program in rate cases filed after June 1, 2018; and be it further

Resolved, That the report indicate whether the filed proposals contained charges, fees, or rates that are outside of the distributed generation program parameters and provide an estimate of the projected impact on customer costs of those charges, fees, or rates; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Michigan Public Service Commission and its staff.