Powering “Progress”: Regulation and the Development of Michigan's Electricity Landscape

Abstract

This article examines state-level regulation as it affected Michigan's electricity infrastructure system. Whereas many studies make central the utility companies who built and operated the system, I argue that Michigan's utilities laws and the specific actions of the regulatory body, the Michigan Public Service Commission, played a crucial role in shaping the state's electricity landscape. The regulatory process, and in particular rate-of-return accounting, converged with a specific notion of progress that linked the deployment of new infrastructure to statewide socioeconomic advancement, producing a landscape dominated by huge projects and excess generating capacity. In spite of industry restructuring in the 1990s, historical attitudes toward both infrastructure and consumption continue to limit conservation and renewable fuels programs today. Beginning with a brief history of Michigan's electricity landscape, the article shifts to the Commission's role in setting rules whereby utilities could operate, profit, and make investments. I examine impacts of Commission policies as typified by hearings surrounding the Midland Nuclear Facility. Next, I consider the role of progress in utility and regulatory decisions and conclude with a look at the legacies of earlier policies, decisions, and attitudes.

Este artículo examina la regulación a nivel de estado en la medida de su influencia sobre el sistema de la infraestructura de la electricidad en Michigan. En tanto que mucho estudios ponen en el centro de la cuestión a las compañías de servicios que construyeron y operan el sistema, yo arguyo que las leyes sobre estos servicios en Michigan y las acciones específicas del cuerpo regulador, la Comisión de Servicios Públicos de Michigan, jugaron un papel crucial en la conformación del paisaje de la electricidad en este estado. El proceso regulador y, en particular, la contabilidad de la tasa de rendimiento convergieron con una noción específica de progreso que ligó la instalación de nueva infraestructura con el avance socio-económico a nivel general del estado, produciendo un paisaje en el que dominan proyectos enormes y capacidad de generación en exceso. A pesar de la reestructuración industrial de los años 1990, las actitudes históricas hacia infraestructura y consumo siguen limitando en la actualidad los programas de combustibles renovables y de conservación. Comenzando con una breve historia del paisaje de la electricidad en Michigan, el artículo pasa a examinar el papel de la Comisión en la expedición de normas mediante las cuales las compañías de servicios públicos pudieron operar, obtener ganancias y hacer inversiones. Examino los impactos de las políticas de la Comisión, tal como fueron tipificados en las audiencias relacionadas con el Servicio Nuclear Midland. Enseguida, me refiero al papel de promoción del progreso representado por las decisiones regulatorias y de servicios, y concluyo con una mirada a los legados de políticas anteriores, sus decisiones y actitudes.

Key Words:

• electricity
• energy studies
• historical geography
• Michigan
• regulation

关键词:

• 电力
• 能源研究
• 历史地理学
• 密西根州
• 调节

Palabras clave:

• electricidad
• estudios sobre energía
• geografía histórica
• Michigan
• regulación

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Kyle Evered, Igor Vojnovic, and Antoinette WinklerPrins for assistance with this article; the comments of anonymous reviewers for helping sharpen the article; and the Michigan State University Graduate Office Fellowship for offsetting research costs.

Notes

1. I use electricity landscape to collectively reference electricity generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure (see also Zimmerer 2011).

2. This article emphasizes Consumers Power (now operating as Consumers Energy) and Detroit Edison and their activities in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Although there are other private, cooperative, and municipal utilities in Michigan, the electricity landscape has been dominated by these two firms.

3. Cogeneration is the combined production of heat and electricity.

4. The Michigan Railroad Commission became the Michigan Public Utilities Commission in 1919 and the Michigan Public Service Commission in 1939.

5. Other utilities operate in Michigan, particularly in the Upper Peninsula, and municipal systems remain unaffected by Michigan's utilities laws.

6. See MPUC cases U-3179, U-3749, U-4174, U-4324, U-4332, U-4576, U-4840, U-5331, U-5353, U-5388, U-5438, U-5734, U-5979, U-6923, U-7263, and U-7830.

7. See MPSC Annual Reports for 1989–2009 for analysis of Commission efforts in implementing federal rule changes.