Give Me Something To Work With, DTE!
DTE Energy truly offers the worst of both worlds– high prices and little to show for it in terms of reliability, energy efficiency, or clean energy.
Read More
municipalization
Southeast Michigan Dreams of Public Power
Municipalization of public utilities, transportation systems, and distribution systems for gas and electricity was all the rage about a century ago. Is it time to bring it back into vogue? A symposium looked at this question.
Read MoreWant To Municipalize Your Utility? I Mean, Really?
DTE Energy is a disaster, as evidenced by its continued embrace of fossil fuels and its apocalypse-level outages. That doesn’t mean that a public option could do better. But there are some options for improving.
Read More
Better Utility Regulation: How We Can Get Out Of This Mess
Too much regulation restricts innovation. But too little regulation does the same, and this is what we see in the crumbling infrastructure of Michigan, where regulators are asleep at the wheel in the name of a “business-friendly regulatory” environment that, as it turns out, is neither terribly regulatory nor terribly business-friendly.
Read More
Centralization: Economy of Scale? Looming Disaster? Lil Bit of Both?
Streetcars, gas and water pipes, power lines, and other “invisible networks,” to borrow a line from the title of Ann Durkin Keating’s book, make up a vibrant history of infrastructure in which centralization vs. decentralization is a big debate.
Read More