Marquette, MI – (Great Lakes Radio News) – Michigan lawmakers have introduced legislation requiring additional oversight by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, allowing the agency to stop a pending $100 million annual electric rate increase for U.P. consumers.
U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and Congressmen Dan Benishek and Gary Peters introduced legislation following a recent decision by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation forcing U.P. consumers to pay for 99 percent of the operational costs of the Presque Isle Power Plant in Marquette.
The POWER Act would require the F-E-R-C to review, analyze, and disapprove any NERC decision calling for unreasonable rate increases in the region.
The measure provides FERC a direct path to overturn unfair cost shifts resulting from NERC actions.
Earlier this week, FERC announced it would delay the U.P. rate increases that were previously expected to begin on December 1st in order to further investigate the problem.