News and Press Releases

A2P2 Executive Director discusses Ann Arbor's upcoming municipalization feasibility study, and how the city's Sustainable Energy Utility might offer a stepping stone to full municipalization

As the weather continues to tease an early spring, one thing that residents of Southeast Michigan constantly worry about is what has yet to come. Although it’s true that we are on the upswing of the season and nearing spring, we are not normally out of the clear when it comes to a late snow or ice storm until well into the new season. It is not so much the weather itself that leaves many residents wary, but specifically what power outages may result from it.

The city of Ann Arbor is positioning itself to provide its own public utilities and potentially move away from DTE. The effort was prompted by an organization called Ann Arbor for Public Power. "It's the only real path forward we have solving this issue," said Greg Woodring, the president and founder of Ann Arbor for Public Power.

A Tree Town coalition calling for city-owned electric power has released a proposal detailing how the municipal utility would be governed. Ann Arbor for Public Power (A2P2) has been advocating for a completely renewable and public-owned electric utility system. The nonprofit is made up of residents and organizations hoping to move away from using investor-owned power companies.

Since July 2021, when the Ann Arbor Energy Commission first took up a resolution for a municipal electric utility feasibility study, A2P2 and city staff have been considering the municipalization option and its promise of a cleaner, more reliable electricity supply. In September, 2023, consulting firm 5Lakes Energy delivered its report, “City of Ann Arbor 100% Renewable Energy Options Analysis.” Among its conclusions was the following: “We suggest that the City authorize a Phase 2 Feasibility Study to characterize more precisely the costs and risks of the MEU [Municipal Electric Utility] approach.”

Ann Arbor for Public Power's proposed governance structure for a municipal electric utility in Ann Arbor.

LIHUE, Hawaii — It’s hard to find anywhere in the United States that has greened its electricity supply as quickly as verdant Kauai. And the people of Kauai achieved that on their own, through collective ownership of the electricity grid, not by hoping profit-maximizing utilities find a way to balance the urgency of human-caused climate change with quarterly dividends for shareholders.

limate activists have set their sights on a new target in the fight to slow global warming: utilities. Around a dozen communities across the country have launched campaigns to get rid of their investor-owned electric utilities — the for-profit companies that distribute electricity to three-quarters of U.S. households — and replace them with publicly owned ones.

In the summer of 2021, Southeastern Michigan was slammed with two major rainstorms that upturned the lives of countless residents. Apocalyptic images circulated of cars stranded on I-94 and houses completely inundated. And all too predictably, in the chaos over 800,000 Michiganders lost power.

Power outages are impacting the first day of school in Ann Arbor, and some parents are growing frustrated. On any other beautiful August day, Samantha McCully would love nothing more than to watch her kids play basketball in the driveway. But Monday was not that day.

Fire crews responding to downed lines and other hazards during Ann Arbor power outages have found themselves using unorthodox methods to alert DTE.

On Aug. 30, 1840, Hazen Pingree, the future Detroit mayor and Michigan governor, was born in Denmark, Maine.The progressive Republican was first elected in Detroit in 1889. Later, he was elected governor in 1896 as the state continued its transition from the Civil War years to the industrial age.