Bill > SB1171

This bill amends Michigan’s public utilities law by adding a new section that requires electric utility companies to provide mandatory financial reimbursements when a power outage, legally defined as a "service interruption" involving a full or partial loss of electric service, affects certain tenants and local governments. Under the legislation, tenants whose electricity bills are paid directly by their landlords—who might otherwise be excluded from standard customer outage credits—must be reimbursed by the utility for losses incurred during an outage lasting between 4 and 24 hours, receiving either $50 or the actual cost of spoiled food, temporary lodging, and other related expenses, whichever amount is greater. For outages lasting longer than 24 hours, these tenants must receive a minimum of $200 or their actual incurred costs, whichever is larger. Additionally, the bill requires electric utilities to reimburse local units of government, such as cities or townships, for any expenses they incur in responding to a blackout, including the costs of dispatching emergency services like police, fire, and ambulance first responders, operating temporary warming or cooling centers during unsafe weather, running emergency backup generation, and other mitigation efforts. To claim these funds, affected individuals and local governments must submit an accounting of their actual costs within 90 days of the outage to the state's regulatory body, the Michigan Public Service Commission—which regulates utility rates and services—for review and determination, after which the utility has 30 days to issue the final payment.