It’s election season for the races you’ve probably never heard about — but can impact your energy bill.
This story is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
The nonpartisan boards of directors for Michigan’s rural energy cooperatives set rates, manage multi-million dollar budgets and decide reliability standards. But annual elections for these positions have low voter turnouts — as low as 10% for some energy co-ops.
This could be the year things start to change, a number of board candidates in northern Michigan are saying. They point to increasing attention on utilities, as a result of concerns about issues like reliability during extreme weather, data centers and renewable energy.
“The utility industry, back in the day, was viewed like watching grass grow or watching paint dry. Electric utilities are now front and center,” said Dave Schweitzer, a financial analyst seeking reelection to a fourth at-large term on Cherryland Electric Cooperative’s board of directors. The utility serves six counties in the northwestern lower peninsula.
Still, it’s hard to campaign for an election most people don’t know about. Terms for energy co-ops in Michigan are three years long and elections are staggered with at least one position up for election annually.
“Once (people) recognize the power they have with a vote, then the question becomes, ‘Well, does it matter who I vote for?’ And I'm trying to convince them that it does,” said Brian Fenlon, a production winemaker from Leelanau County running against Schweitzer in Cherryland Electric’s election.
Fenlon said he wants to keep energy reliable at low prices, especially in an era of high inflation. To do that, he would like to see more clean energy — solar, wind or nuclear — and wants to explore new technologies like battery storage, which could allow excess renewable energy to be used during periods of high demand.
“We have an ability to certainly make things more affordable without sacrificing, and in some cases, possibly improving reliability,” he said. “People get excited when you try to explain that to them.”
Power generation isn’t up to distribution co-ops like Cherryland Electric, but Cherryland does get a voice on the board of the utility, Wolverine Power Cooperative, that is responsible for those decisions.
Schweitzer, the incumbent at-large candidate for Cherryland Electric, said Wolverine Power is ahead of Michigan’s mandates requiring 100% carbon-free generation by 2040. He currently represents Cherryland Electric on the generation co-op’s board.
These energy co-ops play “a very big part” in the transition to clean energy, Schweitzer said, and he welcomes the increasing attention to electric utilities.
“I don’t think many people understand what goes behind that light switch,” Schweitzer said. “I think the more they find out about it, it really helps us to explain to members how things work and why things are happening.”
Schweitzer said he wants to continue Cherryland’s track record for low rates and reliable electricity.
Elsewhere in the region, some first-time candidates said worsening extreme weather, like last year’s ice storm, is a big reason they’re running.
Cheboygan resident Brianne Crittenden didn’t have power for two weeks during the storm and says she wishes communication from her utility was better. Electric utilities have a hand “in all of our abilities to function, to live, to do anything,” she said. “We have got to plan for the future because this kind of stuff is going to keep happening.”
She plans to submit her name to the ballot for the board of Presque Isle Electric & Gas Cooperative this year.
While her co-op — also a Wolverine Power member — does get the majority of its power from climate-friendly sources like solar, wind and nuclear, Crittenden said she wants to see that share grow. She's concerned about surging gas prices as the war in Iran snags key shipping routes for oil and liquefied natural gas.
“We are seeing that these big national events have a real impact on our daily lives and on that bill that we pay every month for our gas and electricity,” Crittenden said.
Heidi Witucki, a retired schoolteacher, is running for the Sault St. Marie seat on Cloverland Electric Cooperative’s board of directors.
“It’s not fun being held hostage to the availability of fossil fuels,” she said.
Like other first-time candidates, she wants to see more local renewable energy produced within her service area. Cloverland Electric serves five counties in the eastern U.P.
“I would love to make our cooperative more self-sufficient, less dependent on external sources,” Witucki said.
Utilities across Michigan are dealing with rising costs, concerns about data centers and how to harden aging grids against extreme weather.
Those challenges might be enough to get people interested in their rural energy co-ops, said Sarah Mills, director for the Center for Empowering Communities at the University of Michigan, and who studies energy and land use policy.
“We're all part of a big system right of interdependencies and affected by things outside of our control. But there’s an awful lot that is in our control,” she said. Like representation on your local energy co-op board.
Tom Van Pelt is running uncontested for the Leelanau County seat on Cherryland Electric’s board. He’s been on the board for more than 42 years.
Van Pelt said he’s running again to see plans for a new headquarters come to fruition. And he’s excited for the planned restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Van Buren Township.
He said it can be “frustrating” to represent a membership with only 10% turnout during elections. “It would be nicer if it was a higher percentage,” Van Pelt said.
How to vote
Members can typically vote online, via mail-in ballot or in-person at the electric co-op’s annual meeting. Election schedules can vary by co-op. Check the election schedule, nomination timeline and candidates below.
- Cherryland Electric Cooperative
- Great Lakes Energy Cooperative
- Presque Isle Electric & Gas Cooperative
- Cloverland Electric Cooperative
