Survey Finds More than 70% of Michigan Residents Support Law Allowing for Electric Choice

Some 72% of Michigan voters would support a law allowing customers the ability to choose their electric service from competing suppliers, according to a poll released by Energy Choice Now (ECN), the Association of Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity (ABATE), the Customer Choice Coalition (CCC) and Energy Michigan at an energy markets conference yesterday.

The same poll found that 76% of voters agreed that competition among energy companies is a good way to control costs, the organizations said.

The questions were asked as part of a statewide poll taken by Lansing-based pollster EPIC▪MRA with a sample of 600 survey responses and an error rate of ±4.0%. Polling dates were Oct. 4 – 6, 2012.

"As today’s polling results reveal, voters support electricity choice," said Wayne Kuipers, Executive Director of Energy Choice Now. "Voters across Michigan, along with the more than 10,000 customers who are currently languishing on a waiting list to gain access to competitive electricity, recognize that competition is essential for innovation and economic growth. It is time to eliminate the cap on competition and allow our state to experience the economic growth and thousands of new jobs that lower electric costs would enable."