House Republicans Fight for Lower Energy Costs

Lansing, MI – Today, the Michigan House Energy Committee held testimony on a package of Republican bills that would stop the Michigan Public Service Commission’s (MPSC) never-ending saga of rate increases and stop the harmful mandates of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Green New Deal.

House bills 5710 and 5711, introduced by state Representatives Pauline Wendzel and Pat Outman, respectively, would reverse the green energy mandates introduced by Whitmer under the Democrat trifecta and force her MPSC to consider consumer affordability when looking at rates. Whitmer’s original energy plan forces utilities to shut down cheap, reliable energy in favor of unaffordable, unreliable wind and solar. 

Michigan has some of the highest electricity prices in the Midwest, where prices have already increased at almost twice the rate of inflation since last year. Overall, the plan is estimated to raise Michiganders’ rates by an average of $2,700 per year.

The Whitmer-appointed members of the MPSC have raised rates by more than a billion dollars over the course of her term, in service of her radical energy agenda. As a result, businesses have been fleeing Michigan for more affordable states:

“Speaker Matt Hall and Chair Pauline Wendzel are working to undo the damage caused by Gretchen Whitmer and her activist allies under the Democrat trifecta,” said Gabe Butzke, a spokesperson for Michigan Forward Network. “Every Michigander is paying the price for her radical policies, and we’re glad that we now have leaders like the speaker in Lansing who are putting affordability first.”