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Consumers Energy, Entergy Will Now Decide When Palisades Closes

Rebecca Thiele
/
WMUK

On Friday, the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a plan to let Consumers Energy end its power purchase agreement with Palisades’ owner Entergy.

If both companies agree, Entergy would shut down Palisades as planned in October of 2018. Consumers Energy would then recover its costs with a surcharge on customers’ electric bills. 

Consumers had hoped to get $184 million from ratepayers, but the Michigan Public Service Commission will only allow it to recover $142 million.

“Consumers and Entergy will have to go back to the table and discuss between them whether they can do it at that cost,” says Nick Assendelft, public information officer for the Michigan Public Service Commission. 

Consumers Energy says it would replace the electricity lost from Palisades by expanding its wind farm in Unionville and upping capacity at a coal plant near Manistee, among other things. The Michigan Public Service Commission encouraged Consumers to speed up these projects to secure Southwest Michigan’s energy needs.

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