Ann Arbor Deploys City-Owned Solar and Batteries in Homes, Cutting Electric Bills for Residents

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — The city has begun installing municipally owned solar panels and battery systems on residential rooftops, a pioneering program that could slash annual electric costs for hundreds of households by up to $400 or more. The first projects are now live in a pilot phase, with crews working in the lower-income Bryant neighborhood.

“Any other way, I couldn’t afford to do it,” said Bruce Schauer, 80, whose system will be completed in the coming weeks. “After it starts sending power to my home, I expect to save around $400 a year.” Schauer had long wanted solar but was blocked by upfront costs.

Another participant, Myles Burchill, echoed that sentiment: “I’ve looked into solar in the past, but the upfront cost is huge. With this opportunity, we don’t own the panels, but we get the benefits of paying lower rates — and if we don’t use all the electricity, there’s potential for the utility to pay us.”

Pilot Program in Bryant Neighborhood

The initial deployment covers roughly 150 homes in Ann Arbor’s Bryant area this year. The city plans to expand to about 1,000 homes in 2025, then ramp up to several thousand annually thereafter.

The effort is the first project of the city’s newly formed Sustainable Energy Utility (A2SEU). “It’s bringing clean, affordable and resilient energy to residents quickly who need it the most, and who’ve traditionally been left out of the energy transition,” said Shoshannah Lenski, A2SEU executive director.

Background

Electric bills have been climbing across Ann Arbor, mirroring a national trend. The existing local utility, DTE Energy, does not plan to reach 100% clean energy until 2050 — and includes natural gas in its definition of “clean.” Unsatisfied with that pace, Ann Arbor decided to create its own power company.

By building a distributed network of rooftop solar, batteries, and geothermal systems directly in neighborhoods, the city can bypass the multiyear approval and construction delays typical of large-scale wind and solar projects. “We can use municipal financing, with its lower cost of capital, to take on debt to install these systems,” Lenski noted.

What This Means

For residents, the program eliminates the primary barrier to solar adoption: upfront costs. The city owns and maintains the equipment while homeowners pay lower rates and can even sell excess power back to the grid. As the program scales, bulk purchasing of panels and batteries will further reduce expenses, and installers can work efficiently on multiple homes in a single neighborhood.

The model promises to accelerate the grid’s transition to renewables while directly benefiting low- and moderate-income households. “It’s bringing clean, affordable and resilient energy to residents quickly who need it the most,” Lenski added.

• Resident savings: up to $400 per year on electricity bills
• No upfront cost: city finances and owns all equipment
• Scalable model: from 150 homes in 2024 to thousands annually
• Municipal advantage: lower cost of capital speeds deployment

Residents who enroll remain customers of DTE but draw power from their rooftop systems. The city hopes to expand the Sustainable Energy Utility to include geothermal and other clean-energy services.