Nessel Asks Regulators to Block Consumers Energy Dam Sale

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is pressing state utility regulators to turn down Consumers Energy’s plan to hand off its 13 hydroelectric dams to a private buyer, setting up a showdown at the state Public Service Commission early next month.

Under the deal, Consumers would sell the river dams to Confluence Hydro, a unit of Maryland-based investment firm Hull Street Energy, for $1 apiece. The utility signed the purchase agreement last year, but the transfer cannot happen without the commission’s approval. The dams sit along rivers across the Lower Peninsula; up north, the list includes the Manistee River’s Hodenpyl and Tippy dams.

Nessel’s office argues that moving aging dams, some close to a century old, from a regulated utility into private-equity hands puts the public at risk if maintenance slips. She has pointed to the 2020 failure of two privately owned dams in Mid-Michigan, whose owner, Boyce Hydro, went bankrupt soon after the floodwaters receded.

Opponents say talks this month to rewrite the terms broke down. Among the changes they sought was making Hull Street Energy itself responsible for all costs of running, maintaining and eventually removing the dams, whether it or a later owner holds them. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, too, has urged regulators to reject it.

Consumers Energy counters that the sale is the least costly path for its customers, since keeping the unprofitable dams would mean charging ratepayers billions of dollars to repair or tear them down. The company has said it wants to keep working with the parties on their concerns.

Nessel did not always oppose the deal. An administrative law judge earlier recommended rejecting the deal, after which she withdrew the conditional support she had given it. Days before the original Sept. 10 decision date, Consumers asked regulators to hold off so the sides could try for a settlement.

The commission is scheduled to meet Nov. 5 and is expected to decide then. Separately, a bipartisan dam safety bill that would expand state inspections and create a dam safety fund has cleared the Legislature and awaits the governor’s signature.

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