Tagged: DTE Energy

State lawmakers will hold another hearing tomorrow on legislation intended to crack down on scrap metal theft in Michigan.

The legislation would require scrap yards to keep better records and ban cash transactions for commonly stolen items, like catalytic converters and copper wire.

Police, prosecutors and larger industries often victimized by scrap metal thieves support the legislation.

But not scrap metal dealers and recyclers, who complain the new regulations would be a burden.

Those who want to opt out of DTE Energy’s smart meter program now face a fee.

According to MLive, the Michigan Public Service Commission “ruled that DTE can charge customers an initial fee of $67.20 and a monthly fee of $9.80 to opt out of the smart meters.”

Melissa Anders reports that:

Burning coal in a power plant creates byproducts called fly ash and bottom ash.  That ash contains a lot of bad stuff - mercury, lead, arsenic, to name a few.

While some plants ship the dry ash to landfills that accept hazardous materials, others mix the ash with water to make a slurry, which is moved into holding ponds.

Eventually, the water in those ponds is released into the nearest waterway.

In Michigan, we get more than half of our electricity from coal.  All of that coal is imported from other states.

In a couple weeks, you’ll get a chance to weigh in on how we’ll use energy in the future.

When Governor Rick Snyder gave his Special Message on Energy and the Environment last fall, he said he wanted to hold forums around the state to talk about energy.

DETROIT (AP) - Winds that gusted to 60 miles per hour have swept across Michigan, knocking down trees and power lines and cutting off electrical service to at least 195,000 homes and businesses.

Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. says 120,000 of its southeastern Michigan customers lost power in the overnight storm, and about 110,000 remain blacked out at midday Sunday.

Jackson-based CMS Energy Corp. says the storms knocked 75,,000 of its customers off line, and about23,000 were without service at midday Sunday across Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

A lawsuit over Smart Meters is creating a David and Goliath Situation with two Oakland County homeowners.  Smart Meters are relatively new technologies that use a wireless signal to transmit power use information to the utility.  

Michigan utilities sent hundreds of linemen to the East Coast last week to help restore electricity to areas hard hit by Hurricane Sandy.

Now Consumers Energy is sending two dozen workers to help restore natural gas service to parts of Long Island, New York.

Roger Morgenstern is a Consumers Energy spokesman.    He says restoring natural gas service presents a very different challenge than getting the lights back on after a storm.

Michigan utilities are making their own preparations for Hurricane Sandy.

The storm is expected to strike the East Coast later today, but the hurricane's outer bands are being felt as far west as Michigan.

“Well, right now we’re monitoring the storm….and seeing how it might impact our southeast Michigan service area,” says Scott Simon, a DE Energy spokesman.

DTE has already freed up about a hundred contract linemen to help restore electric power in the Mid-Atlantic States that are expected to take the brunt of Hurricane Sandy.

DTE Energy CEO Gerard Anderson asked Michigan delegates to the Democratic National Convention to oppose a state constitutional amendment increasing the use of renewable energy. The proposed so-called 25 by 25 amendment would mandate 25 percent of electricity come from renewable sources such as wind, solar, or bio-fuels by the year 2025. It will appear on the ballot in November.

Anderson says he’s not opposed to increasing the use of renewable energy, but it should be done through the legislature, not by amending the constitution.