Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wants Michiganders to believe she’s “keeping energy costs low,” but her rhetoric doesn’t match reality.

“Michigan is committed to leading the future of clean energy so we can drive down utility costs for families, create good-paying jobs, and grow out advanced manufacturing economy,” the governor said in July.

Two months later, she took to X to tout how her administration is “keeping energy costs low, shoring up domestic energy production, and keeping our state competitive.”

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

But here’s the reality, courtesy of ElectricityRates.com: “The average residential electricity rate in Michigan is 18.33 cents per (kilowatt hour), which is the 10^th highest average rate in the U.S.”

Here’s another, from Energy News Network: “Michigan ranks among the top states for power outages in recent years as extreme weather, growing demand and aging infrastructure strain the power grid.”

The most recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows Michigan’s average price of electricity across all users hit 14.48 cents per kilowatt hour in August, up .45 cents over the last year, outpacing all states in the East North Central region in both the total rate and rate of growth.

The next closest is Wisconsin, where costs are more than a cent per kilowatt cheaper at 13.33. The national average is 13.61, which factors in states like California and Hawaii that are more than double.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

The high costs are only expected to increase as both of Michigan’s major electricity providers are requesting their second double-digit rate increase in as many years, requests fueled by Whitmer’s net zero carbon emission goals that experts predict will cost Michiganders significantly more in the coming years.

When Michigan adopted Whitmer’s directive to transition to 100% clean energy by 2040 last year, Jason Hayes, director of energy and environmental policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, put the move into perspective for Michiganders.

“Michigan ratepayers should know that it’s impossible to achieve net-zero goals on the cheap,” he said. “Estimates show that taking the state of Michigan to net-zero emissions by 2050 would only reduce global temperatures by approximately 1/1000^th of a degree Celsius by the year 2100. Meanwhile, people can expect to pay an additional $2,746 in energy costs each year just to experience more blackouts.”

Hayes and others are predicting the net-zero plan will likely spell doom for Michigan well before it achieves Whitmer’s energy goal.

“The Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator, the grid operator for much of the Midwest, projects that by 2032, none of the five Great Lakes states in its territory will have enough electricity capacity to meet even the most conservative projection of demand load,” according to Shorting the Great Lakes Grid, a report from Hayes and research analyst Joshua Antonini.

“If MISO’s information is accurate, Michigan will face broad electricity generation shortfalls by 2027 and ever larger deficits by 2032 and 2042,” the report read.

U.S. News & World Report already lists Michigan as 41^st in the nation among states for grid reliability, an issue experts predict will only grow worse under increased demand from electric vehicles, and AI data centers.

But it’s not just electricity that’s on the rise.

A recent report from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association expects both electricity and natural gas rates to factor into significantly higher winter heating costs this year.

“Prices for home heating this winter on average are estimated to increase by about 10.5% from last year’s winter heating season due to expected colder winter weather in the Northeast and Midwest states from $889 to $982,” the NEADA said in a press release.

While the “largest change is for families using electricity to heat their homes increasing by 13.6% from $1,063 to $1,208,” the report notes, “NEADA predicts higher prices for natural gas, one of the main fuels used in electricity production, primarily due to increased exports of liquified natural gas with the average cost increasing from $601 to $644.”

The cost of heating oil is also expected to jump by 6.1%, while propane is set to rise 7.3%, according to NEADA.

The increases are largely the result of government policy decision’s like Whitmer’s clean energy goals and decisions by the Biden-Harris administration to reverse actions taken by former President Donald Trump to make it cheaper to produce domestic energy, according to the Institute for Energy Research, a nonprofit that analyzes energy policy.

“Midwest states, including Michigan, are expected to see colder-than-usual temperatures this winter, but rising energy prices are primarily driven by supply limitations, not increased demand,” Alex Stevens, manager of policy and communications at the institute, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.