(The Center Square) – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel wants utilities to be more transparent about what they spend to influence public policy.
On Feb. 10, Nessel filed comments before the Michigan Public Service Commission in Docket No. U-18238.
The Commission requested comments from interested parties to address potential modifications to the Rate Case Standard Filing Requirements.
Nessel’s office proposed recommendations that she said will assist her office’s efficiency in reviewing utility rate increase requests, including reducing the length of a utility’s forecast; requiring the use of cost/benefit analyses to justify expenses; improving disclosure information for multi-jurisdictional utilities; improving litigation processes; and increasing transparency for utility expenses used to influence public policy and achieve rate case outcomes.
“Utilities are government created monopolies regulated by the state,” Nessel said in a statement. “Accordingly, customers of these monopolies should have the right to know whether and how much their utility is spending to influence legislation or other public policy that impacts the utility and consumers. I am hopeful the Commission will consider these recommendations and implement them for Michigan.”
Nessel’s office requested utilities report the following:
- Expenses to influence regulation or legislation directly or indirectly through affiliates.
- Expenses to influence public opinion about policy issues or the company’s reputation directly or indirectly through affiliates.
- Expenses relating to all proceedings before the Commission, with specificity about how and how much the company spent on the previous rate case and how much it forecasted for the current general rate case.
- The 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) contributions to each non-profit organization, including those organizations receiving contributions from the utility’s affiliated 501(c)(3) charitable foundations.
- Expenses for any litigation that utilities file seeking to overturn rules or statutes.
Utility rate cases must be completed within 10 months, so it’s important for the utilities to provide certain documents at the time of filing and standardize certain processes to efficiently use the time for an in-depth review of the rate increase requests. This docket has been ongoing for several years. The recent comment deadline is in response to the Commission staff’s recommendations.
Nessel’s office recommended the above information be provided for the most recent five years and the forecasted period proposed by the utility in its rate increase request.
The Public Service Commission has not issued a deadline for this order.
Consumers Energy Media Relations Manager Brian Wheeler told The Center Square, “No costs to influence public policy are included in rate case filings and are not reflected in customer rates.”
