Michigan’s small business owners rely on energy to run reliably in the background without interruption at a reasonable cost. To the extent that the state continues to pursue policies that reduce carbon emissions, these policies need to be balanced against factors such as affordability and reliability, which both impact Michigan’s competitiveness and economic growth potential. Policies must allow reasonable transition periods and incorporation of generally accepted practices of carbon offsets and sequestration.

Energy policies should seek to mitigate the effects of rising energy costs and encourage affordability and competitiveness for small businesses in Michigan. These policies must be economically feasible, protecting small businesses from high energy rates, along with being technologically reasonable. Energy policies and regulations should not be synonymous with yet-to-be invented technologies or concepts that are not commercially available or viable.

Availability on hot summer days or during winter storms. Outages, blackouts, and brownouts lead to unpredictability and disruption of businesses, sometimes for extended periods of time. To ensure reliability, our grid must be resilient. SBAM advocates for investment in infrastructure modernization and maintenance to ensure the availability of energy required for businesses to flourish, including Michigan honoring our existing plan for replacing Line 5 with a utility tunnel. To ensure a balanced energy portfolio, lawmakers must allow for existing, domestically sourced baseload, such as natural gas, to be utilized alongside renewable sources.

State policy should accommodate small businesses that decide to generate their own electricity, including their own reliance on traditional power sources, controlling more of their costs and taking individual steps to reduce their carbon footprint. Those who choose to generate their own electricity should have the opportunity to remain connected to the grid and to be able to participate in net metering opportunities with reasonable rates.