CMS Energy "Pretty Comfortable" That No Change in Michigan Choice Cap is on Horizon

CMS Energy, parent of Consumers Energy, told investors yesterday that it is "pretty comfortable" that there will be no change in the current electric retail open access cap in Michigan in the near term.

Speaking at a Credit Suisse energy summit, CMS Energy CFO Tom Webb conceded that customers could buy power cheaper in the market today than they could buy it from Consumers' owned generation, but said that such conditions resulted from the lower cost of gas and the soft economy -- conditions which may turn around.

"[I]t's artificial because those [market] prices won't support new capacity or ... the needs of the citizens and customers that are in your area," Webb said.

While Webb noted that some legislators have introduced bills to raise or adjust the 10% choice cap, "the committee chairs have been very open and very direct that they're not changing the law for this in the near term."

"That doesn't mean it can't happen in the longer term, but we don't think that it will be embraced in the committees it has to go through, even though folks will raise bills to go through and have recently," Webb said.

"And then even if it were to get through the House or the Senate, or both, which I really doubt ... it'd be hard for the governor to sign because he doesn't really believe in the program of having more retail open access," Webb added.

"So in the near term, we're pretty comfortable," Webb concluded.