Lansing is Michigan’s capital city, with a population of about 113,000. Michigan has been a battleground state for several election cycles and this part of the nation is seen as a must-win for the next President. President Trump visited Potterville, a small town 15 miles southwest of Lansing, yesterday to win over the residents of the area.
Lansing itself votes reliably Democrat, yet its residents are highly discontent with the Biden-Harris economy and also the far-left green radicalism of many of its policies. Specifically, Lansing residents are up in arms about news this week of their sixth utility hike since 2018, a victim of both the never-ending Biden-Harris inflation affecting Americans nationwide but also far-left renewable mandates.
The local utility’s Director of Finance Scott Taylor blames ‘increases in operating costs’ to the City Council but residents digging through the budget notice major spending on various renewable energy scams in order to comply with a new Democrat law that requires irrational and unrealistic renewable energy goals.
State Democrats have required that utilities get 50% of their power from renewables by 2030, a decision that has already cost just the Lansing-area municipal utility $260 million to get their number to 21%, not even halfway. The renewable requirement was part of Public Act 235 passed in 2023, a law passed entirely with Democrat votes.
The bill requires 100% renewable energy production by 2040, 16 years from now.
Far-left Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed this mandate on December 29, 2023, the Democrat-controlled Senate passed it on a party-line vote 20-18, and the Democrat-controlled House passed it on a party-line vote 56-51 on November 3, 2023.
Compliance with the law is causing the state’s already high utility rates to soar even higher.
Within eight months its far-left irrational and unscientific mandates are already bankrupting the municipal utilities of the capital city generating major rate hikes and causing residents to consider moving away.
Yet Democrats somehow find a way to blame ‘greedy corporations‘ and Trump for the rate hikes.
One of the legislators who voted against the bill and tried to sound the alarm on the topic, Rep. Steve Carra (R), spoke to the Gateway Pundit: “The issue is corporate greed, but in this case it’s the greed of renewable energy green elitists who want to be constantly funded with more taxpayer dollars. Their only way to compete is to outlaw their competitors. These are the closest friends and allies of Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and other globalist Democrats.”
“The people of Michigan should be furious about what Gretchen Whitmer and her green allies have done to our state’s economy,” continued Rep. Carra. “When these bills passed, it was no secret in Lansing that the utilities were in favor of it, and supporting the globalists. Only the poor will pay the real price of these policies.”
Many local residents were angry, attending the public hearings, calling local media outlets, and expressing themselves online. “Thats what we get with the Democratic’s For the past 3.5 years everything has went up. Can we really afford 4 more years with this party in office. Gas, food,rent, and utilities the list goes on and on,” said Marshall Gurd, in an online comment.
Democrats want half of all the state’s power to come from wind and solar by 2030, for a state that is in the nation’s higher latitudes, is the 7th cloudiest in the country according to the Farmer’s Almanac, and is middle-ranked among U.S. states at 23rd for wind energy.
Lansing’s residents are served by the municipal utility company the Lansing Board of Water and Light, more commonly known as “BWL.” BWL serves more than 135,000 people in the Lansing area with water, power, gas, and steam. The entity is overseen by a board of eight who are appointed by the Democrat Mayor Andy Schor and confirmed by the eight-member City Council.
The utility currently charges $0.1445 per kWh during on-peak hours year-round. Given that the average Michigan household uses 652 kWh of electricity, that means the monthly electrical bill should be $94.22.
Yet other averages online indicate the average BWL power bill is nearly twice that amount, at The average water bill is around $150 for a typical household per month. While the official statistics claim that the average resident’s total monthly utility bill is around $300, anecdotally many residents say it’s often double that amount.
Now the utility wants to increase the electrical 6.95% this year and 6% next year, and raise water rates by 9.23% this year, and another 9.15% next year, and residents are up in arms. Steam is going up 9.75% and chilled water is going up 2%, this year and roughly the same next year.
Many of the commenters and residents easily point the finger at inflation. And Biden-Harris inflation is causing the value of the dollar to decline. The government claims the inflation rate is only 2.9%, while nationwide many note that home prices have inexplicably gone up nearly double that rate, and food prices have gone up 25% since COVID.
Many online were blaming “corporate greed” and “price gouging” even though this municipal utility is not operated to run for a profit. Some attempted to blame Donald Trump for the rate increase.
Michigan’s two largest utility companies, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, are both busy shutting down coal generating power plants and financing renewable generation. One such plant being shuttered is the Campbell power plant in west Michigan which currently serves a million residents and is due to go offline next May. It is being shut down 15 years early in order to comply with state and federal green mandates. Its cheap energy has served the state for 60 years.
A group of residents is petitioning to “Save the Campbell” but the odds of their success seem limited. The ability to save a coal-fired power plant is limited in a state intent on outlawing them entirely. The input and opinions of the general public as it relates to energy prices and energy production, seems irrelevant.
Despite the protests, comments, and general public anger expressed this week about the Lansing rate hikes, BWL’s 6-member commission Wednesday approved the proposed two years of rate hikes on a vote of 5-1.
