Consumers Dedicates to a Greener Future

Quite a few New Year’s resolutions may be centered around being cleaner and greener. To that end, mid-Michigan businesses will have plenty of opportunities to fulfill that promise in 2022, thanks to local utilities.

“Consumers Energy’s business customers looking to be more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable have a lot of options to help them achieve their goals,” said Terry DeDoes, senior public information director for the utility. “There are a lot of rebates for customers looking to make their facilities more energy-efficient.”

The utility’s business and residential customers have saved a cumulative $4 billion-plus through energy-efficiency measures since 2009, said DeDoes. The utility hopes to go coal-free by 2025, use 90% clean energy sources by 2040 and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by that same year.

Consumers Energy also offers its “PowerMIFleet” program, which can help regional enterprises in transitioning their corporate fleets — such as delivery trucks, school buses and such — to emission-free vehicles, DeDoes said.

“Those are incentives we have for customers looking to be more sustainable to go with vehicles that don’t have emissions,” he said. “It’s a whole system that we’ll customize to make sure you have the energy you need, the equipment you need and the information you need to make that transformation to an electric vehicle fleet.”

The utility’s other offerings to business customers, according to DeDoes, include:

Free on-site energy assessments.

A Michigan-generated renewable energy credit for relying on wind and solar facilities located in the state.

Rebates for energy-efficient HVAC, mechanical, lighting and insulation products.

A 15% rebate for using energy-efficient equipment manufactured in Michigan.

Go to consumersenergy.com/business/business-center for more information on options and benefits.