Important question to ask political candidates and leaders: Do you support giving local voters the opportunity to decide whether we have local control of our electric grid via a locally elected electric cooperative board or do you want to stick with the status quo of leaving grid control with the Consumers Energy monopoly executives and the MPSC?

Many decisions must be made about our local electric grid regarding solar panel fields and battery plants trying to replace fossil fuel plants like the Campbell, as well as data centers. A central question is whether we want to have local control of these grid issues via a locally elected electric cooperative board, or whether we want the decisions to be made far away from us, by people whose financial and other interests may significantly differ from local interests. We have a path towards local control, but we need more area political leaders helping to pursue giving local voters the opportunity to decide. Without more leadership support and help, this effort will be dead in the water.

Have you asked political candidates and leaders where they stand on this issue? Have you made known to them what you want them to do?

There are other important and excellent avenues being pursued towards local control, from lawsuits to temporary data center moratoriums to legislative efforts to restore more local control, but we should not forget this one. So long as our local grid is mainly in the hands of Consumers Energy executives and the MPSC, the reality is that many decisions regarding our grid will not put local interests first.