LANSING, MI — Consumers Energy wants state regulators to approve a 30-year deal that would involve paying a private buyer twice the market rate for comparable hydropower in exchange for selling its fleet of aging hydroelectric dams at nominal cost.

In an Oct. 31 filing , Consumers said it would pay Confluence Hydro LLC roughly $160 per megawatt-hour for electricity generated by its 13 obsolete hydro dams if the Michigan Public Service Commission approves its proposed power purchase agreement.

The application follows a September announcement that Consumers plans to sell its hydropower fleet to a Maryland-based private equity firm, Hull Street Energy of Bethesda, which would operate the dams through Confluence, a newly-formed subsidiary.

Hull Street has pledged to upgrade the dams

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