Background - Michigan Energy Choice
On June 3, 2000, Michigan Governor John Engler signed into law the Customer Choice and Electric Reliability Act (Act 141). Since then, legislators, consumers and energy suppliers have worked together to put into place program details and protective guidelines that will help customers benefit from these new energy choices.
Customer choice has been implemented in many other states at varying levels. You may have heard it called customer retail access or the restructuring or deregulation of the utility industry. In Michigan the program is called Michigan Energy Choice.
What's included in the Michigan Energy Choice program is the ability to choose the electric supply portion of your energy use. What's not included is the delivery of your energy service.
An energy supplier is the company that generates electricity for you or buys electricity for your use from another generator. A supplier other than your local utility is called an "Alternative Energy Supplier" or AES. Under this new program you can choose to buy your electric supply from an AES, if one is available to you. You are not obligated to choose a different electric supplier. Wisconsin Public Service will remain your electric supplier unless you choose otherwise.
The delivery of energy will remain as a service from Wisconsin Public Service and will continue to be regulated by the Michigan Public Service Commission. Delivery services include responding to emergencies, maintaining power lines and customer service support.