Average residential customers of the Milwaukee-based utility owned by WEC Energy Group can expect their electric bills to rise by $7 to $8 a month starting in 2027, then by another $6 to $7 in 2028. The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin voted on Thursday, Nov. 5, to approve a roughly 7% increase across the two years. The utility had asked for about 9%.
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The smaller increase still extends a streak. Wisconsin Watch counted it as the sixth consecutive rate hike for the utility, and the first-year bill impact arrives after a 10-hour commission session that trimmed profit, redirected power-plant costs and rewrote disconnection rules.
The 2027 and 2028 bill steps
According to Wisconsin Watch’s account of the decision, the commission approved a roughly 7% increase in electricity rates spread across 2027 and 2028, down from the 9% overall the utility proposed, a request that included a 16% increase for residential customers. Local station TMJ4 reported that the original plan would have raised the average residential bill by $22 a month in the second year. The revised estimate is $7 to $8 a month from Jan. 1, then $6 to $7 more in 2028, or about $13 to $15 a month by year two.
Commissioner Kristy Nieto said rates cannot be so high that they become unjust or oppressive to consumers. Brendan Conway, a spokesman for the utility, and Richard Stasik, WEC’s vice president of regulatory affairs, were the company voices Wisconsin Watch cited in its account, and the utility’s request for a 9.9% return was the profit figure regulators trimmed.
The Citizens Utility Board’s own Nov. 6 statement says the utility sought a $449 million increase and that the cut left customers with higher monthly bills over the next two years. For context, the commission’s last electric decision for the utility, in December 2022 and reported by Wisconsin Public Radio, raised its residential bills by nearly 11%, or $11 to $12 a month.
A 9.5% return on equity instead of 9.9%
Shareholders in Wisconsin utilities typically earn 9.8%, and the utility asked for 9.9%. Wisconsin Watch reported that the Citizens Utility Board urged a cut of nearly a full point, and the commission set the return at 9.5%, which it estimated saves ratepayers about $60 million over two years. The consumer group’s release puts the savings from lower profit closer to $80 million over two years, against the $200 million it had sought. Walmart had called the original request unjustified. executive director, said utilities are on notice that regulators will be scrutinizing their costs more closely from now on.
Data center plant costs shifted to the largest customers
Commissioners rejected a plan to bill ordinary ratepayers for a quarter of the cost of new power plants and instead assigned those costs to the utility’s current and future large data center customers. A pending agreement with Oracle for its Port Washington project, called Project Lighthouse, would give the company a share of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant’s output, and the utility estimates about $300 million in fuel savings over five years. The commission has not yet approved that deal, per Wisconsin Watch. Transmission Company has asked federal regulators to let it charge data center operators for transmission, which Microsoft has objected to for its Mount Pleasant campus.
Cost overruns, retired plants and disconnection limits
Regulators also took aim at spending that outran approvals. The 2022 Kenosha County solar and battery purchase, a $433 million project approved over ratepayer objections, finished nearly 40% over its approved figure, and the commission barred profit on $166 million of the unapproved spending. Solar projects in Darien (35% over) and Koshkonong (42% over) will be revisited in the next rate case, and ratepayers cannot be billed above the original prices.
Customers still owe about $1 billion for retired plants, according to Wisconsin Watch, including $775 million for the Pleasant Prairie coal plant that closed in 2018. Recovery was extended six more years with shareholder profit limited. The Oak Creek coal retirement was pushed to 2027.
Politics may change the commission’s makeup before the next case. Wisconsin Watch reported that Democrats won a state government trifecta two days before the vote, that Commission Chair Summer Strand’s term runs through 2029, and that Commissioners Nieto and Marcus Hawkins serve without Senate confirmation, which would let Gov.-elect David Crowley appoint a new majority next year. WEC Energy Group shares reached an all-time high of $120 before the hearing and closed the next morning at $116.
The commission rejected a $5.3 million request to bill ratepayers for board fees and treated about $4 million in industry dues as only partly recoverable. It cut the minimum payment to restore service for disconnected customers from 80% to 50% of arrears, and lowered the low-income down-payment cap from $600 to $100. About 60,000 customers were disconnected last year. WEC’s final average bill figure for 2028 is the number still to watch, since the consumer group said the full household impact may not be known until December.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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