The Michigan Supreme Court has handed down a landmark decision about who will be allowed to provide power to Traverse City’s Great Wolf Lodge. The winner? Cherryland Electric Cooperative.

In a 4-3 vote that has garnered nationwide attention, the justices ruled that Cherryland, which has served the Great Wolf Lodge property since the 1940s, should remain its energy provider.

Great Wolf’s owner, Madison, Wisconsin-based Great Lakes Companies (GLC), challenged Cherryland’s right to serve eight years ago, contending that Traverse City Light & Power should be its provider.

“The importance of this decision has been recognized by electric utilities across the country,” explains Cherryland general manager Tony Anderson. “The bottom line is that the utility – in this case a cooperative – who has served the load for decades and made investments to the infrastructure, can retain its right to serve.”

The Great Wolf Lodge sits on part of a 120-acre parcel once farmed by the Oleson family. In 2000, Great Lakes Companies purchased a portion of the land from GDO Investments. After the last farming tenant left the property in 2001, Cherryland’s power supply was halted, but GDO continued to pay Cherryland a small monthly fee to retain the right to renew the electric service.

When planning to build the Lodge, Great Lakes Companies sought bids for electric service from Traverse City Light & Power (TCLP), Consumers Power, and Cherryland. TCLP was the winning bidder and in December 2001 contracted to provide power to the new resort.

A month later, Cherryland was asked to remove its power line, but declined to do so, citing its rights as the first provider of power to the property. It asked to be granted the contract for electrical service. Great Lakes ultimately agreed, and signed a three-year contract with Cherryland, setting off the legal battle.

Writing for the majority in the May 9 ruling, Justice Marilyn Kelly wrote: "We hold that a utility’s right for first entitlement under Mich Code, R 460.34411 (11) entails the right to serve the entire premises. That right is not extinguished when there is a new customer, i.e. new “buildings and facilities served,” on the premises.”

Cherryland’s Anderson notes that the Michigan Public Service Commission and other cooperatives backed Cherryland’s right to serve the property, while other municipal groups and corporations like GM, Ford and Chrysler sided with Great Lakes Companies’ position.
“The largest law firms in the state were involved in this case,” says Anderson. “Cherryland won this case before the MPSC and Circuit Court, lost at the Court of Appeals, then won again at the Michigan Supreme Court.”

Jim Cooper, marketing manager for TCLP, said the utility has no comment on the case.

GLC has until the end of May to file for a rehearing, after which Cherryland would have 14 days to respond. For more details, click here.