Michigan Public Service Commission annual reports find electric choice, cable customers down

Required to report annually on electric customer choice and video services competition in Michigan, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) released its 2017 findings this week.

Their determination was that numbers are down across the board. The status of electric competition showed a drop of more than 100 customers since 2016 and a decrease of about 6 megawatts (MW). This leaves the number of electric choice customers at 5,929, though as many as 7,039 customers have shown interest in the program. No new alternative electric supplier licenses were issued over the year, but none were taken away either.

Cable fared much worse. Though there are 38 cable providers still operating in the state, as many as 161,000 people cease subscriptions between 2016 and December 2017, leaving the industry at the lowest subscription level in five years. However, providers are reporting greater levels of competition since passage of the Uniform Video Services Local Franchise Act, leaving to investments of more than $1.1 billion in the state. Video/cable customer complaints were down compared to the 2013-2015 years. However, the most common complaints were deceptive information, billing charges, and cable line issues.

Meanwhile, MPSC noted ongoing implementation of the latest energy laws, with the adoption of procedures surrounding the allocation of the amount of electric load to be served by AES. They also have implemented new capacity demonstration rules and state reliability mechanisms to improve the reliability of service. Though electric customer choice options remain for all customers of regulated electric utilities, their report found that commercial and industrial customers account for nearly all of the participation in that program, with negligible amounts of residential customers participating.