Free Republic

LANSING, Wis. (WMTV) - Millions of people in Michigan could see a big hike in their electric bill this summertime afternoons. With the summer months heating up, one of the largest utility companies in the state plans to increase drastically the cost of electricity, starting Tuesday. From then until September 30, Consumers Energy will charge its customers a 50 percent higher rate between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays. According to the company’s website, it has more than 6.5 million customers in Michigan. When announcing the rate spike, Consumers’ spokesperson Brian Wheeler explained the move is intended...

A group launched a 2020 ballot initiative Tuesday to expand Michigan’s civil rights law to include anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, a step that would put the issue to voters if the Republican-led Legislature does not pass the measure. Fair and Equal Michigan, a committee backed by business, political and philanthropic leaders, submitted petition language to the Board of State Canvassers. Once it is approved, the group will have until late May to collect the roughly 340,000 valid voter signatures needed to place the initiated bill before lawmakers. If legislators do not adopt the legislation — similar bills have long...

Michigan’s two largest electricity companies struck a “breakthrough agreement” last month with billionaire California environmentalist Tom Steyer to boost the Wolverine State’s clean-energy requirements. Earlier this year, Mr. Steyer had funded a ballot initiative slated for August to force Michigan’s electricity providers to source 30% of their overall sales from renewable options such as wind and solar by 2030. But under the new agreement, the utilities will aim to produce a minimum 25% of their energy from renewable sources and a further 25% from energy-efficiency measures by that same year. This 50% green-energy goal will effectively govern the state’s energy...

The last shipment of coal to a soon-to-be shuttered Consumers Energy Plant in Muskegon is scheduled to arrive Nov. 8. For more than 25 years, 1,000-foot ships have been regularly rolling into the Port of Muskegon with coal for Consumers' B.C. Cobb energy plant. The last such ship to deliver coal to Consumers in Muskegon will be the James R. Barker, a spokesman wrote in an email. "The Barker is scheduled to be loaded with 58,000 tons of coal in Superior, Wisconsin, on Nov. 5," wrote Consumers spokesman Roger Morgenstern. "After the ship is loaded and underway, we will have...