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6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS ANN ARBOR NOVEMBER 28, 2025 Ann Arbor for Public Power ballot initiative: all power to the people! Some people would say Detroit Edison — DTE — is unclean, unreliable and unaffordable. The members of A2P2, Ann Arbor for Public Power, share that sentiment. Ann Arbor for Public Power is a group of neighbors who decided they were fed up with the abuse of Big Power on the environment and the community. In November 2026, A2P2 plans to take the first step in taking the power back from DTE and put control of energy in the hands of the people who depend on it. I interviewed Brian Geiringer, the Executive Director of A2P2, to learn more about the organization and their ballot initiative. If passed, the initiative will establish a board of directors that will begin the process of taking over the management of Ann Arbor’s electricity supply. “Tell me about A2P2,” I asked. “Ann Arbor for Public Power is an org that started in 2020 with the purpose of getting rid of DTE entirely,” Brian stated. “The first thing the organizers looked at was the city of Ann Arbor's A2ZERO Plan for Sustainability, which is a 10-year plan to produce net zero emissions from electricity by 2030. What they found is that most of the electricity emissions, and most of Ann Arbor's electricity, is from Detroit Edison. So in order for Ann Arbor to be net zero on electricity, we have to be free from DTE.” Brian went on to say that the organizers decided to exercise the rights given in the state constitution to take ownership of the electricity. Notable members and supporters of A2P2, such as Jeff Irwin, Yousef Rabhi and Michelle Deatrick, agree that having Ann Arbor run its own electricity, the same way it runs its own water, can help achieve 100% renewable energy. “I did a little bit of research on how power is generated,” I stated. “What I'm not clear on, though, is doesn't DTE own all the infrastructure, like the machines that make the electricity and the wires that transport it?” “Good question,” Brian replied, “it's very weird. DTE does energy generation, mostly on the east side of the state, and then also does distribution; those are two separate entities. There's also actually a go-between, The Midcontinent Independent System Operator. This is what we call “the grid.” MISO is a non-profit that manages electricity transmission across large regions.” Then I wanted to know, “What if somebody bought a farm and put windmills on it for the purpose of generating electricity for a small town like in substations and that sort of thing. So I assume they would coordinate. And I should say it could also be coordinated at a statewide level or at a national level.” “It sounds like you're talking about rendering DTE obsolete by creating power on a neighborhood-by-neighJIM CLARK Groundcover vendor No. 139 Dexter or Chelsea?” Brian answered, “Well, if they did it for Dexter, they'd have to sell it to DTE, and then DTE would sell it back to them because of the infrastructure. Or they can create their own internal city-generated electricity like Ann Arbor did with the Sustainable Energy Utility which allows residents to produce and consume energy generated by solar panels and battery storage systems within the city.” (If it was done in Chelsea, it would be a different situation because Chelsea actually has a municipal electrical utility.) “Couldn’t the Dexter solar/wind farm install their own poles and wires?” I asked. “Yes, the city [would allow the farm to have] that power,” Brian replied. “It is prohibitively expensive but the city can force DTE to sell their poles and wires. That is in the state constitution.” “How would they do that?” I asked Brian answered, “It requires a 60% vote. The city would take out basically a giant loan in the form of a bond. They would buy all the poles and wires. Then that big loan would be paid back through people's actual electric bills over 30 years.” Brian expanded on the larger vision of community-supplied electricity. “There's also a huge benefit in decentralization of energy generation. If the whole Southeast Michigan region relies on five major power plants, then big chunks of it or the whole thing can go down if only a few key places fail. But if every neighborhood has a solar array and a mini-windmill, then if your neighborhood goes out, you can come to my house. If mine goes out, I can go to your house, because they're independent of each other. And properly networked, you could have half of it go out, but be able to share electricity from other active sources.” Brian continued, “I think that the different municipalities could coordinate. There are some things about electricity that benefit from greater coordination, for sure. Like how to put borhood basis,” I asked. “Yes,” Brian said with emphasis. “Is that what the ballot initiative is about?” “Yes,” Brian answered, “in 2026, A2P2 is running a ballot initiative that will be voted on in the November election. “It will create the democratic hybrid board of the future public electric utility. We want to make sure that the future public power is run with at least some democratic control. So in 2026, if we're successful in passing the ballot initiative, the city will begin the process of creating that board. Then in 2028, every ward will elect one person to the public electric board and the city council would appoint four people. Finally a nine-person public power board would be created in 2028 that would gear up the city to actually take over [electricity production]. So it's going to be exciting; it's going to be very exciting.” “We talk about housing, and how housing should be free, but I mean, housing isn't much without power, so shouldn't power be free?” I asked. “I told someone one time that I thought electricity was a human right,” Brian agreed. Then I said, “As an environmentalist I reconciled the need for electricity a long time ago, because a basic human need is heat. If you're in temperatures that cause hypothermia, you can only go three hours without proper heat. So, in the wintertime, you have to have a fuel source. We used to burn wood, but with modern technology we can harness heat from the sun and spit it out through a space heater. Electricity keeps our hot food hot and cold food cold.” Brian added, “Not having AC can be life-threatening in Phoenix. Not to mention, there's tons of people who rely on electricity to stay alive through health-aid machines.” According to reporting by Crain’s Detroit Business, DTE and Consumers Energy faced heightened scrutiny after widespread outages in 2023. This is no surprise as DTE is a publicly-traded for-profit corporation. Substandard response in a crisis is probably due to preserving the bottom line. Paying employees overtime is an expense capitalists try to avoid. “Do you remember in 2021,” Brian began, “this big winter storm hit Texas and a bunch of people died? It was the worst winter storm they’d ever had. The grid had been neglected in favor of corporate profits enjoyed by the Texas energy moguls. The grid failed. People died. I'm scared of that happening here.” Brian continued exposing the profit motive of the corporation. “DTE is sending 15% of every one of your bills straight to Wall Street, straight to shareholders. And more of it is spent on executive salaries, more of it is spent on advertising, even though they have a monopoly, and a bunch of it is spent on lobbying against climate-positive legislation as far away as California.” At the time of writing, November 20, one share of DTE stock was worth $135. Meanwhile, a growing number of Michigan residents are unable to pay their electric bills. The risk is rising due to a recent halt in LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) funding. LIHEAP normally helps more than 400,000 Michigan households cover utility costs, and without it many families have been pushed closer to disconnection. If the ballot initiative passes, Ann Arbor residents can expect fewer and shorter outages, eventual lower prices, and net zero emissions. The money collected from bills goes directly to keep the system up-to-date and pay the people doing the work to keep it running. “How can people help with the ballot initiative?” I asked. Brian replied, “A2P2 is going to be collecting signatures to get on the ballot, as early as January. And then there will be months of signature collection. And then it'll turn into a campaign to make sure everyone votes yes to create the public power board. So people should go to the website and volunteer to help get rid of DTE.” I offered Brian a challenge. “Let's say that you're out in front of Meijer, you're standing out there and you're collecting signatures, and you've got five seconds to say what you're about to somebody to get their signature. Go.” Brian launches his pitch. “Okay, so we want to get rid of DTE. We can generate our own electricity that is cheaper, more reliable, and with more renewable energy. So sign on today to make that happen!” Connect more with Ann Arbor for Public Power by visiting their website annarborpublicpower.org/

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