Michael Rogers, communications officer for the Small Business Association of Michigan, talks with Valerie Brader, executive director of the Michigan Energy Agency. The Michigan Agency for Energy’s (MAE) mission is to advance an adaptable, affordable, reliable, and environmentally-protective energy future for Michigan.  The MAE’s work focuses on several areas:

Customer Assistance – Navigating energy bills and service options can be challenging for our state’s residents, especially for vulnerable populations. Residents and businesses may contact MAE if they have questions regarding their energy utility service and billing questions that have not been resolved by contacting their service provider, or take advantage of MAE’s educational materials and outreach events to learn more about energy and utility issues.  MAE also oversees the delivery of energy assistance grants to low-income residents made through 14 partner organizations.

Energy Security – Being prepared for an energy emergency or outage helps to keep our families safe and warm and our transportation running, as well as maintaining operations for Michigan’s businesses.  MAE is primarily responsible for recommending declarations of energy emergencies to the governor, and also partners with a number of agencies, including the Michigan state police, to respond to all emergencies that have energy-related components.

Energy Reliability – Keeping our state’s energy needs met for both residents and businesses is important to our state’s economy.  We also need to make sure Michigan is only being charged our fair share of those expenses.  MAE advocates for Michigan, often in collaboration with the Michigan Public Service Commission, to ensure we have the energy we need when we need it at a fair price.

Energy Policy and Expertise – Decision-makers need to understand the energy landscape and have access to important facts and figures about energy supplies and trends when they are evaluating new energy policies.  The MAE monitors the energy industry along with regional and national trends and can be called on to provide background and expertise for energy policymakers.

Innovation and Best Practices – Finding new ways to reduce energy waste, protect the environment, and produce cleaner energy is good for the state’s future.  MAE manages state and federal grant programs to encourage investment in new technologies to make our energy future more affordable and sustainable.

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