On October 22, 2019 MIACCA sat down with Mike Byrn, COO of the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) and his staff to follow up with his presentation at our Annual Meeting regarding the VAPS program.  We discussed what future MPSC staff goals are to handle the annual VAPS and the review process. They had learned a lot going through this first process and appreciated our input on how to streamline things in the future.  They will be putting procedures in place to discuss with the commission about implementing. Although there is nothing that says a company cannot file their annual reports confidential, those filed confidential are going to raise a red flag with staff and prompt scrutiny moving forward.  

We discussed the change in the postage allocation going from 10.4 cents per envelope to having no allocation method with the new code of conduct change.  As the MPSC works through the discovery process, they will determine if an allocation method is needed and are open to suggestions on said methods.

We brought up our concerns about database sharing.  For example, utilities have the ability to know what type of wattage is used and what age a home is, thus gaining an unfair advantage to contractors and marketing.  We are hoping that any such database would be provided to the public and not deemed private.

The MPSC was very open into answering our questions and are taking steps to integrate our suggestions to propose to the commission for approval.  We look forward to a continued working relationship with the MPSC.