When the MPSC receives a complaint, it may "conduct an investigation, hold hearings, and issue its findings and order under the contested hearings provisions of the administrative procedures act [APA] . . . MCL 24.201 to 24.328." MCL 484.2203(1).
MCL 24.302 provides that the APA's final-order-appellate procedures can be superseded by "any applicable special statutory review proceeding." At the time the MPSC's final order was entered, MCL 484.2203(7) set up a special statutory review process and stated, "An order of the [MPSC] shall be subject to review as provided by . . . [MCL] 462.26."[9] MCL 462.26(8) states: "In all appeals under this section the burden of proof shall be upon the appellant to show by clear and satisfactory evidence that the order of the commission complained of is unlawful or unreasonable."
[9] 2005 Public Act 235 eliminated this special-review procedure, and MPSC orders are now reviewable under the auspices of the APA.
