“Citizens for Energizing Michigan’s Economy” opposes competition among Michigan’s electricity suppliers. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has some thoughts on CEME’s recent misleading ad campaign. (The ad can be viewed from that link, if you aren’t aware of it.)
A new commercial is attempting to make Michigan residents fear electricity deregulation.
It claims that Texas “decided to experiment with deregulating their electricity,” and subsequently, prices “shot through the roof” and “blackouts threatened communities.” It then tells that a proposed bill in this state that would “deregulate Michigan’s electricity.”
Not exactly…
For starters, state policymakers are not considering electricity deregulation. The cited legislation — Rep. Mike Shirkey’s House Bill 5184 — merely lifts the cap on the portion of consumers who would be able to choose an alternative electricity provider (other than the one assigned to them by Michigan’s current monopoly system). The electricity market in Michigan would remain just as regulated as it is now. The state would still control which utilities could operate and would continue to regulate rates, among other things…
[T]he average residential retail price of electricity in Michigan increased faster than Texas’s over the last decade and remains significantly higher. Texas’s rates were about eight cents per kilowatt hour in 2000 and about 11 cents in 2013. Michigan’s rates were about 11 cents per kilowatt hour in 2000 and increased to almost 15 cents in 2013, the highest in the Midwest region and 11th highest in the nation.
Where has CEME been for the last 10 years, when we needed them?
Ask yourself who benefits from the 10% Michigan cap on electricity competition: You, or DTE and Consumers Energy?
According to a National Association of Broadcaster’s form indicating who placed the ad (NAB Form PB-18), “Citizens for Energizing Michigan’s Economy” consists of three individuals:
John Truscott
President/Principal at Truscott Rossman:
John Truscott is one of the foremost experts in public relations and politics in Michigan. When you need to develop a message, assemble a strategy, generate publicity or make a new connection, nobody does it better.
[I]s campaign manager for the CARE for Michigan coalition and founder of The Edelson Group. In addition, Edelson is the past president of the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association and was campaign manager for the 2006 Granholm for Governor Campaign.
Formerly, Edelson was Director of Governmental & Regulatory Affairs CMS Energy Corporation (1995-2005); Chief of Staff U.S. Representative Bob Carr (1992-1995) and Field Director MI Democratic Party (1983-1984).
Rhoda Tinkham appears to be a retiree from Consumers Energy.