You have a business to run. It is hard to stay on top of things locally let alone at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) where your electric rates are set. That’s where the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin comes in. We advocate for all small utility customers from individual citizens to small businesses and farmers for fair, safe and reliable utility service. We monitor the changing energy world and put the utility customer first.
CUB small business members benefit from our team of legislative, utility and communications experts who advocate tirelessly for your business at the Public Service Commission, the state Capitol, in the courts, and at regulatory agencies.
Small Business Membership Benefits:
Advocacy: CUB business membership keeps you up-to-date on issues that matter to you.
- Monthly electronic newsletters highlighting key cases before the PSC, issues before the Legislature, and information to help you control energy costs.
- Action Alerts keep you notified and enable you to get involved, when important decisions are up for hearing/vote.
- CUB works as Your Independent Consumer Voice at the table for small business interests when the PSC sets rates and energy policy.
Empowerment: CUB will help you take action and share your thoughts with Wisconsin government officials.
- Confused by your bill? We can explain it.
- Problem with your utility service and pricing? We will answer questions and help you work with your utility.
- Who makes these decisions anyway? We will show your staff how to interact with the PSC and legislators
Access: CUB can help your organization and employees save resources and money.
- Host a “utility bill clinic” about ways to help residents and businesses save money on their utility bills.
- Promote your support of fair, safe and reliable utility rates with the CUB small business member badge.
Outreach: CUB will help small business members partner with other members and like-minded organizations to bring these issues to the public. CUB staff can answer questions about energy related matters as well as provide free one-on-one utility bill consultations.
Partnership Opportunities: CUB partners with community groups interested in learning about utility issues. We provide presentations on how to understand your utility bills, how the PSC works and how you can get involved. Plus, we can provide information on energy costs you can control. Let us know what you’re interested in, and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.
January 11, 2016: CUB Opposes Repeal of Nuclear Ratepayer Protection Law
Posted: January 11, 2016 by Leah Steinberg
For Immediate Release: January 11, 2016
More Information: Tom Content, 608-251-3322 x. 12, 414-550-4712 (cell)
CUB: Citizens Utility Board Opposes Repeal
of Wisconsin’s Nuclear Ratepayer Protection Law
MADISON — Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin (CUB) opposes passage of Wisconsin Assembly Bill 384. AB 384 would repeal statutory language that helps protect Wisconsin’s electric utility ratepayers from the extraordinarily high costs of nuclear power.
“The cost to build the newest nuclear plants in the U.S., Georgia’s Vogtle reactors, is projected to be a staggering $17 billion dollars. The project is already $3 billion dollars over budget, and at least three years behind schedule. Wisconsin law helps protect our ratepayers from a similar economic catastrophe, and should not be repealed,” stated Kurt Runzler, CUB’s Acting Executive Director.
Wisconsin law requires that before a nuclear plant can be built, the Public Service Commission must find that the plant is “economically advantageous” to ratepayers based upon the costs of construction, operation, and decommissioning. Potentially permanent on-site storage of nuclear fuel waste adds hundreds of millions of dollars in cost. The cost of such storage at the recently closed Kewaunee nuclear plant near Green Bay is currently estimated to be $342 million through 2073.
”Ratepayers are well served by the common sense protections under Wisconsin’s current law,” Runzler said.
AB 384 would also place nuclear power on Wisconsin’s energy priority list for the first time, ahead of natural gas fired power plants. However, new nuclear plants cost approximately five times more per/megawatt than new combined-cycle natural gas plants, such as Wisconsin Power and Light’s proposed Riverside natural gas plant outside Beloit, making new nuclear plants cost prohibitive compared to a reasonable alternative.
“CUB believes repealing Wisconsin’s nuclear ratepayer protection law, and the inclusion of nuclear power before natural gas fired generators on the energy priority list, sends the wrong public policy signal to the Public Service Commission,” Runzler stated.
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Category: Press Releases Tags: WI Policy