How many electric cooperatives are in Michigan?

10 electric cooperatives reported bundled retail electricity sales to customers in Michigan in 2024, according to EIA. The largest is Great Lakes Energy Coop, with 132,252 customers.

How many municipal and public power utilities are in Michigan?

40 — 40 municipal utilities — reported bundled retail sales in Michigan in 2024. The largest is City of Lansing, with 99,649 customers.

How do public power utilities and co-ops in Michigan buy?

Municipal utilities and public utility districts are local government entities, so they generally follow Michigan's public procurement laws, with purchases approved by a city council or utility board. Electric co-ops are private, member-owned nonprofits that set their own purchasing policies, though projects financed through USDA's Rural Utilities Service follow its rules. See how utilities buy.

Where does this data come from?

From the U.S. Energy Information Administration's table "2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total" (Table 10), based on forms EIA-861 and EIA-861S. It counts customers who buy both electricity and delivery from the utility.

Michigan Public Power & Electric Co-ops: Full List

Key takeaways

50 community-owned utilities: 40 municipal utilities and 10 electric cooperatives reported bundled retail sales in Michigan in 2024.
Together they served 659,631 of the state's 5,081,311 bundled retail customers (13%); 7 investor-owned utilities served most of the rest.
The largest public power utility is City of Lansing, with 99,649 customers.
The largest electric co-op is Great Lakes Energy Coop, with 132,252 customers.

Every public power utility and co-op in Michigan

Ranked by bundled retail customers in 2024, with retail sales in megawatt-hours and average price in cents per kilowatt-hour. Names are as EIA abbreviates them. Filter by type or search.

Showing all 50 utilities

#	Utility	Type	Customers	Sales, MWh	Avg. price
1	Great Lakes Energy Coop	Cooperative	132,252	1,597,512	15.69¢
2	City of Lansing	Municipal	99,649	2,012,805	16.52¢
3	Cloverland Electric Co-op	Cooperative	43,779	721,923	12.25¢
4	Cherryland Electric Coop Inc	Cooperative	38,558	406,068	14.91¢
5	Midwest Energy Cooperative	Cooperative	35,602	553,377	19.00¢
6	Presque Isle Elec & Gas Coop	Cooperative	35,239	246,542	18.80¢
7	City of Holland	Municipal	31,457	1,131,394	9.14¢
8	Tri-County Electric Coop (MI)	Cooperative	27,142	364,199	16.03¢
9	City of Bay City	Municipal	20,366	309,427	16.23¢
10	City of Marquette	Municipal	17,166	257,698	15.90¢
11	City of Grand Haven	Municipal	15,117	272,344	13.30¢
12	City of Traverse City	Municipal	13,146	336,754	10.61¢
13	Wyandotte Municipal Serv Comm	Municipal	12,856	267,946	11.81¢
14	Thumb Electric Coop of Mich	Cooperative	12,404	186,560	14.05¢
15	Alger-Delta Coop Electric Assn	Cooperative	10,313	94,873	18.81¢
16	City of South Haven	Municipal	8,712	139,075	12.30¢
17	Coldwater Board of Public Util	Municipal	7,829	475,233	10.09¢
18	City of Escanaba	Municipal	7,320	124,684	10.70¢
19	City of Sturgis	Municipal	7,173	205,082	12.70¢
20	City of Zeeland	Municipal	7,041	439,788	8.40¢
21	City of Niles	Municipal	6,646	133,119	12.97¢
22	Hillsdale Board of Public Wks	Municipal	6,148	115,020	12.06¢
23	City of Petoskey	Municipal	5,383	92,630	11.83¢
24	Ontonagon County R E A	Cooperative	5,173	25,507	25.79¢
25	City of Marshall	Municipal	4,629	135,557	13.03¢
26	City of Charlevoix	Municipal	4,590	55,088	16.03¢
27	City of Harbor Springs	Municipal	3,855	37,501	10.85¢
28	Village of Chelsea	Municipal	3,342	105,932	10.24¢
29	City of Eaton Rapids	Municipal	3,297	88,105	10.79¢
30	City of Lowell	Municipal	3,158	89,886	12.06¢
31	City of Dowagiac	Municipal	3,073	53,306	13.77¢
32	City of Gladstone	Municipal	2,687	28,310	14.61¢
33	City of Portland	Municipal	2,575	34,822	14.31¢
34	City of Negaunee	Municipal	2,263	21,002	19.09¢
35	City of Norway	Municipal	2,257	21,922	16.46¢
36	City of St Louis	Municipal	1,989	44,950	12.51¢
37	Village of Paw Paw	Municipal	1,836	40,040	10.27¢
38	City of Crystal Falls	Municipal	1,603	16,335	16.98¢
39	Village of Union City	Municipal	1,549	15,184	14.68¢
40	Village of Clinton	Municipal	1,488	20,488	14.27¢
41	Newberry Water & Light Board	Municipal	1,429	15,466	8.87¢
42	City of Hart Hydro	Municipal	1,409	40,161	12.50¢
43	City of Croswell	Municipal	1,292	45,791	10.05¢
44	Village of Sebewaing	Municipal	1,183	46,262	13.79¢
45	Village of L'Anse	Municipal	1,154	11,488	15.42¢
46	City of Wakefield	Municipal	1,018	10,080	10.76¢
47	Village of Baraga	Municipal	809	16,978	14.00¢
48	City of Stephenson	Municipal	484	6,295	13.40¢
49	Village of Daggett	Municipal	123	1,084	15.14¢
50	Bayfield Electric Coop, Inc	Cooperative	68	155	33.68¢

Public power vs. co-ops in Michigan

Public power utilities — municipal utilities, public utility districts and state-owned utilities — are owned by the communities they serve and governed by a city council or elected board. They buy much like local governments: through public bids, board approvals and published budgets.
Electric cooperatives are private, not-for-profit utilities owned by their members, who elect the board. Most buy power from a generation and transmission (G&T) co-op and make purchasing decisions through their own policies, often faster than public agencies.

Both publish their plans: watch board and council agendas, budgets, capital improvement plans and rate filings. Our utility funding tracker and rate case & IRP tracker show where the money is coming from.

Selling to Michigan utilities

Start with the right person. Line, engineering, metering, IT and member-services managers usually define the need; the general manager or CEO and the board approve large purchases.
Use the networks. State public power and cooperative associations, joint action agencies and G&T co-ops shape purchasing and share vendor experiences.
Expect small teams. Many of the utilities on this list have only a handful of staff, so phone outreach and a clear reason to talk matter.

Read our guide to how public power, co-ops and water utilities buy, or see the largest public power utilities and largest electric co-ops nationally.

About this data

Source. EIA's "2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total" (Table 10), from forms EIA-861 and EIA-861S. Average price is EIA's revenue divided by sales.
Bundled customers only. The table counts customers who buy both energy and delivery from the utility, so it excludes distribution-only utilities and customers who buy energy from another supplier in retail-choice areas.
Community-owned utilities only. This page lists municipal, public utility district, state-owned and cooperative utilities. Investor-owned and federal utilities are left out.

Sources

U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total (Table 10): eia.gov

Public power utilities and electric co-ops in Michigan.