The Michigan Public Service Commission on Oct. 5 ruled that avoided costs set for Consumers Energy Co. last November can take effect, dismissing contentions that the utility has no capacity need for the next 10 years. The commission ruled that the integrated resource plan will be used to determine annual capacity requirements and that capacity prices will be reset only after reviewing changes to the utility’s 10-year forecast. Last year, the commission established an avoided capacity cost of $117,203 per megawatt year or $140,505 per zonal resource credit year in its first update to the avoided cost terms in almost 30 years, but suspended implementation after the utility sought to freeze its purchase obligations because it didn’t project a shortfall of supplies for the next decade. The avoided cost is what a utility would pay for energy and capacity to a qualified facility instead of generating that energy and capacity itself. Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act gives states the authority to set how much a utility is obligated to pay the owners of a cogeneration or small renewable energy generating facility for the electricity that it produces. Consumers Energy Co. is a subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp.