Ann Arbor for Public Power officially asked the city of Ann Arbor to take the next step towards establishing municipal public power on Jan. 17. The organization released a comprehensive plan outlining what they believe are the next steps in analyzing the city’s power infrastructure, known as a phase two feasibility study.
The study would allow for an accurate estimate of the value of DTE’s current power infrastructure in the city, which Ann Arbor for Public Power argues the city should acquire to move toward a 100% renewable energy grid. The request follows the release of an initial feasibility study, which concluded that a more precise, in-depth study was needed to determine how a municipal energy utility could be implemented and if it is financially feasible, in September 2023.
Greg Woodring, president of Ann Arbor for Public Power, said in an interview with The Michigan Daily that a phase two feasibility study would be a major step toward the organization’s primary goals of acquiring existing DTE infrastructure and transitioning Ann Arbor to renewable power.
“If the city of Ann Arbor offers to buy DTE’s electrical infrastructure, DTE is required by law to sell,” Woodring said. “What these studies allow the city to do is they give it a strong legal footing to know your electrical infrastructure is actually worth this much. In this phase two study, the goal of it is to leave the city in a position where it’s able to make a good offer to DTE for their electrical infrastructure that will stand up in court.”
LSA sophomore Fiona Dunlop, co-chair of the University of Michigan Students for Public Power, an affiliated organization of Ann Arbor for Public Power, said she believes the proposed feasibility study is an important part of what distinguishes Ann Arbor for Public Power from other grassroots organizations.
“I’ve been a part of a lot of grassroot organizations … and a lot of them don’t take feasibility seriously,” Dunlop said. “They get an idea in their head and they’re like, ‘I think that this is right, so we’re just gonna go for it.’ A2P2 is not like that. A2P2 has an idea, and then they say, ‘Let’s make sure this is the right idea, right? Let’s make sure we’re doing the right thing and then do everything we can to make it happen,’ and that’s what the phase two feasibility study does.”
Engineering junior Katie Watson, president of the U-M student organization Students for Clean Energy, told The Daily she believes municipal power would be better for the city than a large corporation like DTE.
“The city running those grids means that they would have the power to make the grid more reliable … because the city is not, you know, beholden to help some investor,” Watson said. “There’s not a lot of accountability to the people, and having the independence of a city-owned grid would mean that we have a greater choice in what we would like our energy options to be so we can decide as a city.”
According to DTE’s data from 2022, the organization uses more than 60% fossil fuels in their fuel mix in the Midwest region. Ann Arbor for Public Power hopes to transition Ann Arbor to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
Watson said she believes a municipal power system would allow for more flexibility in making changes and responding quickly to maintenance requests compared to DTE.
LSA junior Alec Hughes, co-president of the U-M chapter of College Democrats, told The Daily there is a potential price advantage to consumers who are relying on a nonprofit organization instead of a for-profit one. Lansing, for example, runs on a municipal power system at a significantly lower cost than the state average.
“We examine what the effects of a monopoly are and its higher prices that are passed along, in the end, to the consumer,” Hughes said. “If we see a nonprofit administration of a public power authority, we see lower prices for consumers and we see a company that’s actually run more efficiently because they’re not operating first and foremost for shareholders.”
According to Woodring, one of the largest barriers to public power in Ann Arbor is that no city in Michigan has transitioned to municipally-owned power in more than 100 years, though there have been recent successes in other cities, including Winter Park, Fla. and Jefferson County, Wash. Woodring said he believes a city of Ann Arbor’s size making this transition would pave the way for other cities to potentially follow.
“We see Ann Arbor as one of the most well-positioned cities in the state to be able to take on a fight like this,” Woodring said. “It’s a very progressive city and it’s also a city that is well resourced (and) well educated. If Ann Arbor is successful here, this will create a legal pathway that will make it a lot easier for other communities, more disadvantaged communities, to follow suit.”
Dunlop further explained what the success of Ann Arbor for Public Power could mean for municipalities outside Ann Arbor.
“I think that as soon as we do get a municipal electric utility, and we show people that it’s possible,” Dunlop said. “We show people that we pay less, that it’s more reliable, that it’s answerable to us, and that we can do it in a safe way for the planet. I think other cities will absolutely follow along.”
Daily Staff Reporter Brock McIntyre can be reached at brockmc@umich.edu.