Energy Secretary Chris Wright has argued that the US needs to keep existing power sources online as demand skyrockets
When the Department of Energy issued an order forcing the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in western Michigan to remain online, Democratic lawmakers and activists argued that the move would cost consumers millions of dollars. Federal emissions and regulatory figures shared with the Washington Free Beacon, however, show that the plant has been profitable in the wake of that order.
Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel (D.) stated Wright’s actions would “potentially put enormous costs onto utility customers who receive no real benefit” and contended that the order had cost J.H. Campbell’s operator, Consumers Energy, $29 million over the course of five weeks. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D., N.M.), Rep. Hillary Scholten (D., Mich.), and leaders of climate groups like Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, and the Environmental Defense Fund echoed that argument.
“Mandating this half-a-century-old coal plant to stay open will drive up electricity bills and pollution even higher for families and businesses,” Environmental Defense Fund director Ted Kelly said. “It already cost nearly $30 million to keep the J.H. Campbell coal plant running for the first five weeks this summer.”
Those lawmakers and activist groups were referencing a quarterly financial filing from Consumers Energy, which stated that “the net financial impact of complying with the order was $29 million” through the end of June, 38 days after Wright issued it. Several news outlets including the New York Times, Politico, and the Guardian also cited that figure.
But a subsequent study from energy research firm Energy Ventures Analysis found that the $29 million figure did not factor in the revenue J.H. Campbell earned selling electricity during that time frame. Power producers are paid on a rolling delay, not daily. When factoring in those payments, the coal plant generated $33.7 million in revenue between late May and June 30, according to the study. That means Consumers Energy earned nearly $5 million in profit in that period, not $29 million in losses.
“We expect to present our full net costs in a filing to FERC later in the year,” Consumers Energy spokesman Brian Wheeler told the Free Beacon in a statement.
The figures appear to vindicate Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who has argued that the United States needs to keep existing power sources like J.H. Campbell online as power demand skyrockets. “We must put an end to the dangerous energy subtraction policies embraced by politicians for too long,” Wright said last week. He renewed his order one day prior, requiring J.H. Campbell to remain available through Nov. 19, 2025.
Wright’s orders block the plant from closing and require it to remain available, but they don’t require it to operate. Consumers Energy, though, has kept the plant running at a breakneck clip anyway, suggesting that its power generation is vital for sustaining the region’s grid. Energy Ventures Analysis determined in its study that the plant produced 64 percent of its total capacity in June, more than the average power plant.
“It’s not losing $29 million a month. That’s just not happening,” Phillip Graeter, Energy Ventures Analysis’s director of energy markets and the author of the firm’s study, said in an interview.
“Just the fact that it operated shows that it was part of the group of power plants that were cheap enough to provide power during that period of time. Without the plant, you would have had to use a unit that was higher in cost,” he continued. “It would have been more expensive for electric customers in Michigan without the Campbell power plant.”
The J.H. Campbell plant has a generation capacity of roughly 1,450 megawatts, enough to supply power to a million Michigan residents. Despite its size and apparent profitability, Consumers Energy originally planned to shutter the plant as part of the company’s plans to eliminate its coal fleet, slash carbon emissions by 90 percent, and follow Michigan’s green energy mandate law phasing out coal-fired power by 2030.
The plant is one of many fossil fuel power plants nationwide that have been closed or whose operators have announced plans to close in recent years. But experts have warned that those plans, driven in large part by state and federal climate policies, could devastate the power grid. According to the nation’s top grid watchdog, the Midwest is at “high risk” of shortfalls due in large part to the planned retirements of power plants like J.H. Campbell.
“Closing this plant was done because of political goals for a future that they might want to usher in, not out of actual necessity on the ground,” said Joshua Antonini, an energy research analyst for the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “Clearly, the actual necessity on the ground is we need these plants open.”
“One of the important emphases here is the importance of a continuously running grid. It’s a thing we take for granted,” he continued. “The entirety of modern society is dependent upon available, affordable, and reliable electricity. To jeopardize that and not have legitimate options in lieu of the status quo is a recipe for catastrophe.”
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