Central Michigan University

• Proposed energy legislation to hurt not help

Topics in this story: American politics and society, Business, finance, jobs and the economy, College of Business Administration, Finance and Law

SOURCE:
Ted Bolema, finance and law
Central Michigan University
Phone: 517-230-0861
E-mail: bolem1tr@cmich.edu

In response to proposals in Michigan's Legislature that would limit competition among electricity suppliers and mandate greater use of renewable energy, a study recently released by the Mackinac Center found that such regulation would significantly raise electricity rates without improving energy reliability or environmental quality. Ted Bolema, Central Michigan University finance and law faculty member, was one of two researchers who conducted the study and is available to comment on its findings.

A few of Bolema's initial thoughts on the subject:

• "Before the choice program that started in 2000 among electricity providers, Michigan's rates were among the highest in the U.S. This program has yielded substantial cost savings for customers, helped Michigan's rates drop to lower than the national average and caused the gap between Michigan and its surrounding states to be narrowed."
• "Less regulation is a more promising policy reform. Higher natural gas prices have reduced some of that savings recently, but the real roadblock to competition emerged after 2004, when the state placed large surcharges on competing suppliers' customers to subsidize the big utilities."
• "Policymakers should recognize that more competition and less regulation would better serve the public."

Bolema, an expert on business mergers and antitrust law, is a practicing attorney licensed in the state of Michigan and is the author of more than a dozen articles on antitrust law and the law of e-commerce. He was a trial attorney with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and a special assistant attorney general for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ted Bolema














CMU Media Relations contact:
Heather Smith
989-774-1702
heather.smith@cmich.edu