Testimony in Consumers Energy Gas Rate Case
Synapse experts Sol deLeon and Alice Napoleon each provided testimony in Consumer Energy's 2024 gas rate case (U-21806).
Dr. deLeon submitted testimony on the impending energy transition and its potential impacts on ratepayers. She evaluated the utility’s planned capital investments within the context of the energy transition and discussed the need for long-term planning along with the use of risk-mitigation effectiveness measures to select and prioritize capital projects.
Ms. Napoleon critiqued the utility’s energy efficiency program in light of the energy transition, its allocation of costs to new customers for new attachments to the gas system, and its assumptions and methodology for its new connections forecast. In response to these critiques and related recommendations, the Commission order required the utility to consider and evaluate non-pipeline alternatives in future gas delivery plans. It also required the utility to thoroughly justify the methodology for determining new customer contributions in aid of construction and to incorporate into load forecasts the impacts of increasing customer electrification measures and relevant policy on gas demand.