LANSING – A group of businesses this week formed the Energy Choice Now Leadership Council to work with the governor and the Legislature on expanding choice.
The new Leadership Council is largely businesses that were already part of the Energy Choice Now coalition, many of whose members have been working since it was enacted to change the states 10 percent cap on electric choice.
The effort now includes a dashboard, MIEnergyDashboard.Com tracking energy rates in the state.
“Michigan has the highest energy rates in the Midwest. That is a major constraint to employers’ ability to invest in their communities and grow their businesses,” Michael Ramirez, senior vice president of Herman Miller in Zeeland, said in a statement announcing the effort. “We encourage Governor Snyder and the Legislature to take a serious look at the state’s monopoly-style energy system; consider the merits of an alternative, market-based model; and embrace the kind of competition that will mean lower prices, more investment in the state’s economy, and job growth for our citizens.”
The group said electric rates have increased 30 percent since 2008, while nationally those rates are up 2.7 percent, and add $3 billion in overall consumer costs annually to what residents and businesses in other Midwest states are paying.
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