Our laws needs to catch up faster with the modern world. DTE's concern (besides the obvious no competition one) is that there are giant fixed cost with running a grid whose funding would be hampered by the creation of excess capacity. We should be running a model of a fixed fee plus a marginally lower per unit energy charge, as opposed to the pure per unit charge. In that case, everyone who wants to be on the grid still pays the depreciation instead of simply coming up with an illogical an unsustainable rule like no excess generation. Similarly, what's going to happen to the roads when (very heavy) EVs are dominant (or even a significant proportion) and there is a huge loss in gas tax revenue? The price of driving an EV is currently subsidized by everyone not driving an EV and that has change and soon. We need a weight plus usage tax, which is not technically hard but probably requires more political will than we currently have.
I don't know about Michigan, but both WA and CA have laws on the books that the power companies are required to buy power from you at the same rate they sell it. The windmill folx have dealt with this forever; Puget Sound Energy is the best battery you could hope to buy. SoCal Edison, on the other hand, has absolutely no fucking idea how to deal with net power... because it cuts into their margins. So there are solar panels all over SoCal that can't spin your meter backwards. To no one's surprise this launched lawsuits and because it's California, Goliath slays David all the time. DTE's concern, dollars to donuts, is that buying power at the prices they sell power is a stinker for them and rather than upgrade and face the future they'd prefer to kill hundreds of people. Counterpoint: the externalities of driving an internal combustion vehicle are currently subsidized by everyone breathing. Infrastructure is always something Democrats do and Republicans starve.Similarly, what's going to happen to the roads when (very heavy) EVs are dominant (or even a significant proportion) and there is a huge loss in gas tax revenue? The price of driving an EV is currently subsidized by everyone not driving an EV and that has change and soon.
100% But right now, at least in MI, the already shitty road infrastructure is funded in part by gas tax. When that dries up, are the GOP going to be OK raising taxes elsewhere to make up the shortfall? We both know the answer is no. I'm not trying to argue that EVs are better or ICs are better in any specific way. I'm only trying to argue that we need to invest serious political capital into modernizing the way we pay for things we depend on.Infrastructure is always something Democrats do and Republicans starve.
I am firmly of the opinion that the Biden administration is fully at "Quick: Republicans are culture-warring - advance socialism!" Tuning every country in the world to at least a 15% tax rate means they can drop the hammer on FAANG because while the composite tax rate in the US is a little bit lower than the rest of the developed world, the loophole soup we have here is principally what does it. The Biden administration can go through and kill loopholes that benefit large corporations and the public will be so busy arguing about Critical Race Theory that Amazon will be FUKT.
My immediate reaction to DTE's rule was "Then how do we go off the grid?" I think if we added geothermal and a battery we could get close. We are remodeling this year, so new windows and water heater are happening, and we will probably wrap the house before new siding. The battery is the issue at the moment. ~$7k for 10kWh AFAIK. Charging the car and limited sunlit roof area is probably going to keep us on the grid. My cousin has geothermal, is putting a solar array on acreage, and her husband is building a battery, which he said is much more cost effective. They should be off the grid when done. He mentioned that Ford's F150 EV will not only draw power, but can be used as a battery.
Everyone should be repulsed by the old model. If DTE were thinking long term they'd be embracing the change instead of using their monopoly to inhibit progress. You'd think we'd all have learned the lessons of the railroads long ago. No industry is permanent.