West Michigan’s reliable energy grid, access to fiber networks and cooler climates continue to draw interest from datacenter developers.
Consumers Energy Media Relations Specialist Matt Johnson says the Michigan Public Services Commission requires that large new energy users, including datacenters, must pay all the costs required to serve them.
“Because they are paying for those fixed costs, and there's additional energy usage, those fixed costs don't change, and the usage does, right? And so those costs get more spread more widely among more users, and therefore, our residential customers actually benefit.”
Johnson says other protections include 15-year contracts with penalties for early exit, and minimum demand charges.
“So it requires if we’re going to have this available to them, they have to pay for it even if they don’t use it.”
Johnson assures adding large users such as datacenters will not strain the grid.
“We're required to prove that we have the energy to serve any growth, whether that's a data center or a small mom-and-pop shop. We have the energy today, and we're going to continue to grow our energy supply in the most sustainable way possible in order to serve the needs of the future for growth in Michigan.”
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