Consumers Energy

Consumers Energy Company is Michigan s second-largest electric and natural gas utility, providing service to more than six million of the state s 10 million residents in all 68 counties in the Lower Peninsula. Principal cities served are Battle Creek, Bay City, Cadillac, Flint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Midland, Muskegon and Saginaw. The company operates 12 coal-fired and two oil-fired generating plants, 13 hydroelectric plants, a pumped storage generating plant and several combustion-turbine plants that produce electricity when needed during peak demand periods. The company owns the Palisades nuclear plant. The utility also purchases power from several sources, such as the gas-fired Midland Cogeneration Venture, the nation s first conversion of an idled nuclear plant. Natural gas sources used by Consumers Energy include major pipeline companies and producers in Michigan, Gulf Coast states and Canada. Fifteen natural storage fields in Michigan allow the company to economically purchase and store gas during warm months, for eventual use in the winter heating season. Consumers Energy is the principal subsidiary of Jackson, Mich.-based CMS Energy Corporation. The company s name was changed from Consumers Power to Consumers Energy in 1997.