David Michael Miller
Steve Coleman has been fighting global warming on several fronts. A retired engineer and businessman, he installed solar panels on his Marshall home five years ago.
Three years ago, he leased a Nissan Leaf electric car. “It has limited range. But that’s okay, because most of our driving is right around the Madison area and the 80-mile range for it is fine for what we want to do,” Coleman says. “It’s quiet. It basically costs about a penny and a half per mile for fuel. So it’s really inexpensive from that standpoint.”
But Coleman knows he alone can’t stop global warming. So he’s taken another step, buying stock in Madison Gas and Electric. Working with like-minded people belonging to MGE Shareholders for Clean Energy, he wants to nudge the company to take stronger action on climate change.
MGE Shareholders for Clean Energy, which formed in 2014, proposed a resolution calling for the company to study and develop a plan for electrifying the transportation grid.
But the company’s shareholders, following the board of directors’ recommendation, rejected the resolution by 93 percent in May.
Proponents argue that the company is missing a financial opportunity. As home solar panels and conservation become more popular, the company is losing market share. One way to help grow its business is by promoting electric transportation systems.
“A lot of utilities are facing flat or declining sales because of rooftop solar,” says Mitch Brey, project manager for RePower Madison. “Now that sales have flattened a lot of utilities have excess capacity. [Electrical transportation] would be one outlet for that.”
Last year, MGE Shareholders for Clean Energy had contemplated submitting eight shareholder resolutions all designed to prod the company toward more environment-friendly policies, says Don Wichert, one of the group’s members.
Wichert says the company talked to the group and addressed its concerns on all of the resolutions, except for the one relating to transportation. So it withdrew those other resolutions.
Wichert says that he has been “pretty impressed” with the company’s new CEO, Jeffrey Keebler. “I think he gets it.”
Nevertheless, the activist shareholders would like the company to be bolder when it comes to reining in carbon emissions. They want MGE to be a national model. Which is why the group went ahead and submitted the transportation resolution. In order to submit a resolution, a shareholder has to own at least $2,000 worth of stock.
Three members of the group submitted the same resolution. Although it was defeated, the activist shareholders are happy with the effort, which was the first time a shareholder resolution has been considered by the utility.
Because it got more than 3 percent of the vote, the group can resubmit a similar resolution next year.
With more than half of MGE’s power coming from coal power plants, is electrifying the transportation system a good thing for the environment?
Brey says yes, as long as it happens at the same time that the company also amps up energy production from renewable sources.
“The idea is that it’s going to take some time for this transition to happen,” Brey says. “We can’t wait for all of our power plants to be renewable and then switch over our transportation. If we wait…it’s going to be too late.”
Because most cars are used for 10 years or more, Brey says it’s important that the ability to use electric vehicles is a realistic option now. Otherwise, people will continue buying internal-combustion engines that will be on the road, polluting, for another decade.
Coleman says transforming the network involves more than just private automobiles. He’s like to see MGE working with local municipalities to switch to electric buses and fleet vehicles. Promoting and investing in a light rail or trolley system could do a lot to reduce carbon emissions.
“MGE can do more than just deliver power to your house. It can be involved in secondary businesses. It’s a perfect opportunity for MGE to grow,” he says. “Madison is an environmentally sensitive community. People get it. They understand the importance of sustaining the environment. So it’s a great place for a company to take innovative steps.
In recommending against the resolution, MGE’s board wrote that the utility was already “aggressively pursuing and implementing electrification of transportation as a means to reduce our carbon emissions and pursue market growth.”
The statement notes that MGE has the largest network of electric vehicle charging stations in the state. It installed its first station in 2013 and currently has 27.
MGE also has a pilot project, Charge@Home, where it will install a charging station in homes for $20 a month, not including the electric usage.
However, the board added that it “has neither purview nor decision-making authority over the transportation sector.”
Wichert wishes the company would be a national innovator on the issue. “They have a corporate perspective on this: go slow, do pilot projects,” he says. “They’re taking baby steps and we would like to see them be more aggressive.”
Brey calls the company’s response “really confusing,” adding that “They seem to acknowledge that electrified transportation is really important to their company’s future, but they’re not doing everything they can to make it happen.”
Ald. David Ahrens, who is active with MGE Shareholders for Clean Energy, says the utility is forced to walk “a tightrope” between customers and state regulators.
Its customers are concerned about the environment. But the state’s Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, is appointed by Gov. Scott Walker. Ahrens calls the PSC “essentially Koch-brothers controlled.”
“[MGE is] pushed and pulled,” Ahrens says. “Fundamentally though, every major expenditure it makes has to be approved by this entity that is pro-fossil fuel.”
