People hoping for a little relief when it comes to handling household expenses won’t find it on their utility bill.
Thursday afternoon, the agency that regulates Wisconsin utilities — called the Public Service Commission — OK'd We Energies proposal to increase its customer’s rates.
The PSC crunched some preliminary estimates after the open meeting discussion. The average residential customer’s electric bill will increase by $17.34 a month over the next two years. And, the average gas customer will pay an estimated $8.85 more each month over those two years.
Tom Content was hoping for what he called a bolder commission stance.
Content is executive director of Citizens Utility Board, or CUB. It proposed the commission decrease We Energies' return to its shareholders.
“To levelize the balance between shareholders of We Energies and their customers. We provided a lot of evidence that showed that this utility has done very, very well for a longtime in terms of profits and the commission declined to reduce their profit level. So that was a key decision from our point of view and another key issue was the Oak Creek Power Plant,” Content says.
Although the coal plant is slated to be shuttered, it’s considered an investment for the utility.
“Basically, they earn a profit on everything that they’re investing in. We proposed that because of all the cost challenges that are coming at customers, this was a time to not allow utilities to earn profits after a coal plant shuts down,” Content says.
CUB’s proposal was endorsed by a number of groups — Americans for Prosperity, AARP, WIEG, Walnut Way. "Our proposal would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 15 to 17 years. The commission decided not to go along with that recommendation either,” Content says.
After discussing myriad of its nuances, the Public Service Commission quickly and without further discussion approved We Energies request.
We Energies has consistently said it needs the increase to reliably serve customers. That includes by burying power lines and strengthening the grid against more severe weather.
The utility says the hike also will allow it to build infrastructure and meet EPA rules while supporting jobs.
