LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – U.S. Rep. John James, a Republican running for Michigan governor, outlined a new energy plan, arguing the state’s electricity costs are putting it at a disadvantage compared to its Midwest neighbors.
“We talk all the time about competing with Mexico and China, but we can barely compete with other states in the Midwest, particularly Illinois that has 14% cheaper energy rates, Ohio, 24% cheaper utility rates, and then other states over 50% cheaper than Michigan,” James said.
James, who represents Michigan’s 10th Congressional District and announced his gubernatorial bid last year, said his plan centers on five areas he calls “rates, relief, choice, the commission and centers,” referring to electricity rates, storm outage relief, energy choice for consumers, the Michigan Public Service Commission and data centers.
On rates, James said he wants to push back against renewable energy mandates that he argues are driving repeated rate hike requests from Michigan’s two largest utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, to the MPSC. He cited a recent $74 million rate increase approved by the commission.
Turning to storm outages, James criticized the state’s approach to aging power lines and repeated road construction. Describing frustration many Michigan residents share, he said crews often tear up the same stretch of road multiple times for separate utility and infrastructure projects.
“We’ve all seen it where they pave, they put a cap on a road by your house, and then in the next day, they’re sawing through it again to do additional work. That’s inefficient, that’s costly, and we shouldn’t be doing that,” James said.
He also called for automatic compensation for customers who experience frequent power outages.
“Michigan’s outage compensation should be automatic. It should be based on the system and those who keep losing power the most, those who are the most vulnerable, those are the ones who should have their issues move to the front of the line and also make sure that they are compensated,” James said.
On energy choice, James wants to raise the cap on how many residential customers can choose an alternative electricity supplier from 10% to 30%, calling the current cap too restrictive. When asked how he arrived at the 30% figure, James said the number came out of conversations with industry leaders across the state and was designed as a phased, data-driven approach rather than an immediate jump.
“Sometimes the best way to go at these things is with a scalpel rather than a chainsaw,” James said.
James also said he would replace members of the Michigan Public Service Commission, including current appointees of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as their terms expire, starting with the commission chair on his first day in office if elected. The next commissioner’s term is set to end in July 2027, he said.
Regarding data centers, James described his proposed moratorium as event-based rather than tied to a fixed timeline, saying that local control, electricity costs, water protection, and pollution prevention would guide decisions on where new data centers are allowed to be located.
James carried that same argument to Washington a day later. On Wednesday, he voted for the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bill that would require state utility regulators and non-regulated utilities to consider a federal standard requiring large data centers to cover the cost of the power upgrades needed to serve them.
“Families should not have to pay higher electricity prices due to data centers,” James said in a statement announcing the vote. “If a local community decides it wants to allow a data center, then the companies that build and profit from the data centers should cover the increased costs. There should be no increase in electricity bills for individual households.”
Under the bill, new facilities with a peak demand of 100 megawatts or more, a threshold that covers most data centers, would have to pay the full cost of generation, transmission and distribution upgrades tied to their project, and would have to provide financial assurances up front so residential customers aren’t left covering the cost if a project falls through. The legislation passed the House and now goes to the Senate.
