Did you know the Michigan Public Service Commission launched a new podcast, Behind the Meter: An MPSC Podcast, at the beginning of this year?
This past month's episode — hosted by Mark Burn with Commissioner Alessandra Carreon — featured Andrew 'Andy' Vanderboegh, chairman of the Michigan Propane Commission (MPC), and Alexander 'Alex' Morese, manager of the MPSC's Energy Security Section. The MPC provides propane and rebates along with education on the safe handling of propane throughout the state. The Energy Security Section ensures Michigan has adequate energy supplies — from natural gas and electricity to gasoline and heating fuels like propane — while overseeing the MPSC's cyber and physical security programs.
The MPSC is known for regulating utilities including gas, electricity, and telecommunications, but this propane episode highlights another critical and under-recognized service provided by the MPC. As Commissioner Carreon explains, 'Because the commission only regulates the fares, fees, and service-quality rules of electricity and natural gas — and to a limited extent telecommunications — our involvement with propane looks fundamentally different, primarily through our role in monitoring irregularities with fuel supply.' That work is done mainly through the Energy Security Section, especially during energy emergencies and severe weather.
Propane is a petroleum-refined heating fuel that's critical for residents, businesses, and low-emissions transportation — used especially in rural areas where electric and natural-gas distribution isn't widely available. The main difference between propane and the electricity and natural-gas markets is that the propane market is completely unregulated and, though much smaller, highly competitive. While the petroleum-fuel commodity is unregulated, safety and emissions standards are not. 'That's where the commission steps in,' Alex shares, 'to monitor those energy supplies and the infrastructure that supports these industries — so that if there's a refinery breakdown in Wisconsin or the Chicago area, or a pipeline breakdown, we're aware of what may impact the supply delivered to Michigan and its citizens. We closely monitor these industries, looking for any imbalance in price, supply, or inventories throughout the year.'
Michigan is the largest user of propane in the U.S. — thanks to having more rural areas than any other state.
Currently, 8.6% of Michigan's residential households depend on propane as their primary heating fuel. Close to half of the state's counties have over 20% of households depending on propane, and in three counties that figure tops 50%. Because the MPSC doesn't set the price of propane the way it does for electricity and natural gas, prices depend on open-market factors — weather, tariffs, infrastructure reliability, availability, and other economic variables. The price of propane is also closely tied to the price of natural gas.
The episode strongly encouraged residents who rely on propane to consider marketing programs — price-cap, pre-buy, or budgeting — rather than ordering on a will-call basis:
Price-cap program: the customer pays a nominal fee to lock in a price that won't rise beyond that amount if the market spikes.
Pre-buy program: the customer buys their annual usage upfront at a lower price.
Budgeting program: helps the customer set a monthly price based on past propane usage.
For those uninterested in these programs, the MPC urges will-call households not to wait until their tank hits 5% or even 10% to call for a refill — especially in winter. Staff also stressed the importance of clearing snow from driveways as a courtesy, so propane trucks can enter and connect their hoses safely and serve more households quickly without sliding or risking injury.
Overall, it was an informative episode that introduced listeners to the MPC, its functions, and the MPSC's responsibilities around propane — and showed how uniquely positioned Michigan is in the propane market as the largest user in the country.
