Renewable energy will be on the ballot in Ann Arbor in November

ANN ARBOR, MI — Renewable energy will be on the ballot in November when Ann Arbor voters decide whether the city should launch a city-managed sustainable energy utility.

After years of exploring the idea, the City Council voted in May to ask voters this question in the Nov. 6 presidential election.

This is another key step toward achieving the city’s A2Zero carbon neutrality goals and will benefit Ann Arbor’s long-term energy future, said Mayor Christopher Taylor, calling it a relatively low-cost and high-impact part of the effort.

“I am extremely excited about the conversation we will be having over the next few months,” he said.

The ballot proposal, if approved by voters, would authorize the city to create and operate an SEU, as it calls it, to make new investments in local renewable energy to complement DTE Energy’s city-wide services.

“It’s a complementary tool to your current vendor,” Taylor said. “It will provide residents who choose to join SEU with resilient, reliable, cost-competitive, 100% renewable energy – energy that can weather the storm, energy without accidental outages, and all without new taxes.”

While it would be publicly owned, it falls short of a full-scale public takeover of DTE, which the grassroots group Ann Arbor for Public Power still wants to eventually achieve. The city intends to continue exploring the possibility of a larger project in the future, knowing it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

For now, the question before voters is whether to allow the city to become a supplier of renewable energy for local residents, enterprises and institutions in the opt-in model.

For those who choose to subscribe, SEU will be able to supply, generate, transmit, distribute and store “electricity, heat, cooling, light and energy”, all from renewable sources, as well as provide energy-related services, it says voting proposal.

“SEU could, for example, provide customers with individual or networked rooftop solar panels, heat pumps, geothermal systems or batteries to complement existing utility services,” it says, explaining that this will be fee-based and the ballot proposal does not authorize new taxes.

The city authorities are planning microgrids that will allow neighbors to share renewable energy. Additionally, SEU could provide services on a more holistic scale, helping reduce energy waste and electrify devices through innovative, customer-centric billing and payment options, Taylor said.

“If you want solar power in your home, SEU can purchase and install panels, which will immediately reduce your electricity bills,” he said, adding that it can do the same with battery backups in combination with solar panels.

“If you already have a solar system in your home, when we implement microgrids, you will be able to enroll in SEU and immediately reduce your electricity bills,” Taylor said.

Ann Arbor intends to start work on the solar park during the visit of the German delegation

Councilmember Travis Radina, D-3rd Ward, said she is excited about this and believes it could help change the way Michigan municipalities look at providing clean energy to residents. The city’s sustainability office is already in talks at the state level about the possibility of replicating this model elsewhere, he added.

“I’m happy to say that I’m already having fun conversations with residents about this,” said Council Member Lisa Disch, D-1st Ward, thanking the city’s Energy Commission, Office of Sustainability and legal team for their work on the proposal .

Ann Arbor voters in 2022 also approved a climate action plan that generates several million dollars a year for the city in clean energy investments and carbon neutrality efforts.

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