- This fall, Ann Arbor residents resoundingly approved creating a ‘sustainable energy utility’ to provide solar power to city residents
- Optional participation in the utility allows residents to draw power from utility-owned solar panels on their roof, ideally at a lower cost than their current DTE Energy bill
- The utility plan comes as Ann Arbor races to get off fossil fuels and residents grow frustrated with DTE’s reliability and cost
In the shadow of a presidential election dominated by rhetoric about job-killing EVs and the virtues of fossil fuels, the residents of one Michigan city voted this fall to embrace solar energy.
Seventy-nine percent of Ann Arbor voters approved creating a community “sustainable energy utility,” on the promise that plastering the city’s rooftops with solar panels will yield cheaper, cleaner and more reliable electricity.
In the coming months, city officials will begin planning the new municipal utility as they race to make the city carbon neutral by 2030, and as residents demand an alternative to DTE Energy, a monopoly utility whose customers endure frequent power outages and high rates…