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PSC Of Choice-Limited State Recommends "Competition" To Improve Energy Affordability, But Not Expanded Choice
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The Michigan PSC, in response to a directive from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, has issued a report outlining recommendations to improve energy affordability, including recommendations to increase "competition", but specifically without modifying Michigan's limit on electric choice
The report stresses that, "The Commission is not recommending a shift from Michigan’s current regulated model."
However, the report recommends the following actions as, "Increas[ing] Opportunities for Competition":
• Grant the PSC licensing authority to "safely" unlock customer-side distributed energy resources and their participation in RTO markets (licensing of third party aggregators of distributed energy resources and demand response). "With the recommended licensing authority in place, the Commission could confidently lift the current demand response aggregation ban for residential and small commercial customers," the report states
• Empower customer participation through VPP, EWR, DER, Flex, and plug-in resources, with the following actions:
-- Granting authority to the Commission to require competitive procurement that would include VPPs as an option for utilities to procure, building on existing Commission actions that require VPPs to be a selectable resource within utility integrated resource plan filings.
-- Granting authority to the Commission to license aggregators who could develop and offer VPPs into regional wholesale energy markets as detailed above.
-- Lifting the DG cap to maximize customer participation where individual projects are bundled into aggregated products that deliver cost savings and grid services.
-- Granting the Commission authority to develop a draft tariff, similar to the DG tariff, that the utilities would be required to adopt to maximize the utilization of utility-aggregated storage and flexible demand resources.
• Increase competitive procurement of generation and energy supply, recommending that the PSC be granted authority to require competitive procurement where appropriate and to adopt and update standardized competitive procurement requirements as necessary. "In addition, the Legislature could also consider re-establishing a minimum percentage of projects that should be procured under power purchase agreements with independent developers unless the utility can demonstrate that utility-built projects are less costly to customers," the report states
• Strengthen opportunities to optimize between generation and transmission options as part of integrated resource plans while encouraging more cost-effective transmission
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August 11, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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