State Rep. Mike Harris, R-Waterford, issued the following statement after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s annual State of the State address:

“The only real wins the governor mentioned in her speech were accomplished by the Lions and the Wolverines, but that didn’t stop the governor from chalking up our state’s losses as victories. She triumphantly celebrated extreme energy mandates passed by Democrats that will jack up electricity prices for the families of Michigan and put all our eggs in the basket of unreliable energy like wind and solar. In the dark and cold of winter, people want to know their lights and heat will stay on at home. They want to know that they can afford their electricity bills. The governor praising a broken electric grid is an insult to the people of Michigan who will be stuck with higher costs and more power outages.”

Gov. Whitmer and Democrats in the Legislature last year passed a sweeping package of energy mandates that will effectively ban natural gas power plants and mandate more wind and solar — costly changes to unreliable power sources that will lead to utility companies raising electric rates while blackouts increase. Harris strongly opposed the new laws, which also give a panel of bureaucrats power to override local decisions about the placement of large-scale wind and solar farms.