MADISON – The Citizens Utility Board announced significant wins for Madison Gas & Electric’s residential and small business customers in a rate settlement filed with the Public Service Commission.
Among the wins:
- $2 MILLION PER YEAR IN SAVINGS: The size of the overall increase customers would face is $2 million per year below what MGE first proposed. CUB negotiated to have $900,000 in adjustments by Public Service Commission auditors accepted by the utility and then achieved an extra $1.1 million in savings over and above those adjustments.
- LOWER MONTHLY FIXED FEES: In a significant win, MGE’s residential electric facilities charge or fixed customer charge, will drop by $4 a month, or 21%, by 2023. MGE was at the center of a heated controversy seven years ago when they sought to shift most of their revenues to the fixed charge rather than the energy charge.
MGE customers were frustrated by the massive fixed charge increases sought in in 2014. CUB members and others wanted us to keep pushing against higher fixed charges. MG&E’s fixed charge for electricity customers, currently the second highest in the state, will drop from $19 today to $17 in January and $15 in 2023, if the PSC approves the settlement.
“The reduction we negotiated will greatly improve the way rates are structured and will allow customers to control their electricity use to help them save energy and money,” said Tom Content, executive director of CUB.
“CUB’s been holding the line since 2017, keeping fixed charges from surging higher, but with this settlement we were able to get real savings for all customers plus a meaningful 21% drop in the customer charge,” he said.
CUB also reached a settlement this year with Xcel Energy’s Eau Claire utility that will reduce fixed charges for Xcel customers by 12% over the next two years. Xcel Energy’s electric fixed charge would drop from $17 a month today to $15 a month in January 2023. By 2023, MG&E, along with Xcel and Alliant Energy, will have the lowest big-utility fixed charges in the state.
CUB’s negotiations led to other innovative concepts that MGE is proposing for residential and small businesses hard hit by the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These include:
- A pilot program for low-income customers that will provide free thermostats to a group of low-income customers and enroll them in MG&E’s “Bring Your Own Device” demand response program that helps achieve savings for the utility and customers alike.
- An expansion of the Bring Your Own Device program to enable thousands more Madison area homeowners and renters to save energy and money when asked to reduce usage by the utility on hot summer days.
- A small business economic recovery program, targeted for Madison small businesses, providing those looking to open or re-open a business with an approximately 22% discount on electricity bills for one year.
“From CUB’s perspective, utility rates overall are too high, small customers are paying more than their share of utility costs, small businesses need a hand recovering from COVID, and low-income customers should have access to energy efficiency measures like smart thermostats,” said Tom Content, CUB executive director. “That is why CUB believes that the settlement negotiated with MGE, in cooperation with the other settling parties, is a good deal for residential and small business customers.”
An increase in overall rates in 2022 was unavoidable largely because bill credits linked to corporate tax rate reductions are set to expire at the end of 2021. But CUB also worked for a “fair splitting of the pie,” to ensure small businesses and residential customers weren’t unreasonably paying costs that should be borne by large customers.
CUB always has to weigh whether litigating a rate case will be more effective than negotiating across the table from a utility.
“CUB knows that you can present the best arguments and best evidence in litigation, but at the end of the day it’s a roll of the dice,” said Corey Singletary, CUB’s director of regulatory affairs. “The settlement agreement give certainty to utility customers. “There are big wins for residential and small business customers that will bring real dollars and cents benefits over the next two years. This better positions CUB and Wisconsin’s residential and small business customers as we fight for safe, reliable, and affordable rates in the years to come.”
CUB is the sole customer advocate for all residential and small business customers of Wisconsin’s electric, natural gas and water utilities. CUB advocates for affordable, reliable, and safe utility service and fair policies for customers.
Posted: May 26, 2022 by Tom Content
Check out CUB’s first small business webinar
CUB is partnering with different organizations to provide perspectives and resources for small businesses about the changing world of energy and utilities.
The series debuted last week, and if you missed it you can watch it here and find all the presentations here.
The first webinar, “Business Energy Trends 2022: Challenges & Opportunities for Your Small Business,” featured Scott Coenen of the Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum; Tom Content of CUB; Jessy Servi Ortiz of the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council; and Lisa Geason-Bauer of B Local Wisconsin.
The webinar featured updates on energy trends affecting the business community as well as a variety of useful resources for businesses interested in monitoring, managing and ultimately saving on their energy costs.
Volatile and surging natural gas prices (up 23% from a year ago) along with costs linked to shuttering coal-fired power plants are putting pressure on natural gas and electric bills
More electricity price increases could be in the offing for 2023. We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service and Madison Gas & Electric are all seeking approval for increases in cases recently filed with the Public Service Commission.
Tools to monitor and manage energy costs include:
Resources to save include:
A video replay of the webinar is available at CUB Wisconsin’s YouTube page. Presentations from the webinar are available for download on CUB’s Consumer Resources page.
CUB is planning more webinars for small businesses in October during Energy Awareness Month. Subscribe to the CUB newsletter or follow CUB on LinkedIn for updates and more information.
Posted: April 29, 2022 by Tom Content
Big Rate Hikes Sought for We Energies, WPS
Half of Wisconsin’s utility customers are facing big rate hikes in 2023 after We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service filed proposals Thursday to increase rates by more than 8% and 6%.
This comes at a time when energy prices are already being affected by global market factors that have raised the price of natural gas, home heating and electricity.
As the advocate for Wisconsin’s residential and small business customers, CUB will be scrutinizing these price increase filings closely. We need to find savings for customers wherever we can.
Across all of its electric and natural gas utilities serving eastern Wisconsin, the WEC Energy Group utilities are asking for $475 million in increases to take effect early next year.
The utilities’ request is linked in part to their transition to shut down coal plants and replace them with other forms of power generation. Costs linked to solar and energy storage projects as well as natural gas plants the utilities are proposing to buy or build are key drivers for the request.
We’re concerned about how reliant the utilities are going to continue to be on natural gas at a time when the low prices seen for natural gas appear to be a thing of the past. Higher natural gas prices are being forecast as the U.S. exports more natural gas to help meet energy needs in Europe following the Russia invasion of Ukraine.
In these cases, CUB’s concerned about the impact of more increases on customers struggling to make ends meet.
CUB will be focused on bringing down high utility profits, reducing high customer fixed charges and finding savings by reining in utility profits on coal plants shutting down next year.
Costs linked to coal plants being shut down would still be billed to customers for years to come under the proposal, and the utility would be earning double-digit profit on those plants long after they’re shuttered. That includes the South Oak Creek coal plant in Milwaukee County and the Columbia coal plant in Portage County.
Several years ago, We Energies committed to refinancing costs linked to its former Pleasant Prairie coal plant to a lower rate, a move that produced savings for customers. CUB will press hard to make sure that the utilities aren’t earning high profits from plants that have no role in keeping the lights on or businesses running.
CUB will also focus hard in this case on reining in utility profits that have been far too high well above the national average during a period of low interest rates. We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service earn 10% returns, and We Energies’ Wisconsin Gas utility has an even higher profit rate, 10.2%. In this case the utilities are seeking to increase the portion of their collections that they earn those double-digit returns on.
Here’s a quick look at the requests:
And more increases are in the offing. The utilities are requesting permission to tack on additional increases in 2024, primarily linked to new generation projects, but they’re not saying yet how much that would cost customers.
The long-term trend for We Energies customers show how the utilities’ electric rates have risen to be rank 7th highest among 51 Midwest utilities, and its rate increases have far exceeded the inflation levels over the past 20 years, notably the more than $2.3 billion construction of one of the last coal plants to be built in the country before the transition away from coal took hold.
Your voices need to be heard on these proposals.
The We Energies and WPS filings with the PSC on Thursday kick off the rate case process. CUB will be looking closely at the filings, and our experts will weigh in after the PSC staff has completed an audit of the requests. There will be opportunities for CUB members and the public to weigh in along the way, through public comments on the PSC website or testimony at public hearings.
In another case affecting CUB members and Wisconsin utility, Madison Gas & Electric is proposing a 4.3% increase for 2023. Costs linked to new solar projects as well as fuel costs and costs linked to the Columbia coal plant are all contributors to the proposed increase. That case is also just getting under way.
To get more perspective on the cases, check out the CUB Wisconsin YouTube Channel for the latest CUB Tracks conversation.
Posted: April 4, 2022 by Tom Content
Ask CUB Your Questions
What questions do you have for CUB or about your energy or utility bills?
Let us know. CUB wants to know what’s on your mind. Just ask!
Is it the runup in natural gas prices and home heating costs? What CUB’s working on in cases involving your utility? What’s being done about fixed customer charges on monthly bills? What kind of initiatives are going on in the area of affordability?
These are just a few examples, but we want to hear from you. Send your questions to Tom Content at content@cubwi.org and we’ll get them answered.
We will compile questions and provide answers on the CUB Blog. and during the quarterly CUB Board of Directors meetings, starting this week.
The PSC’s Consumer Affairs office handles specific complaints customers have about their utility. But CUB can field your questions about the work we do, ways to save on energy bills and energy policy.
The next quarterly board meeting is this week, from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6.
The meeting is open to CUB members and the public and can be attended online via Microsoft Teams. All you need to do to attend is register here. We’ll discuss updates from our board committees, our regulatory work and other initiatives.
Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday and receiving your questions!
Posted: March 31, 2022 by Tom Content
PSC Approves Costly Natural Gas Plant
State regulators on Thursday voted 2-to-1 to approve a proposal from Milwaukee and Green Bay utilities to build a new natural gas power plant at a cost of $171 million.
The Citizens Utility Board urged the Public Service Commission to vote against the plant, citing concerns over the utilities’ overly optimistic assumptions about future natural gas prices and the utilities’ failure to analyze the value of the projects in their “generation reshaping plan” in a variety of future economic scenarios.
The project, proposed by We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service Corp., would cost $171 million and generate 128 megawatts of electricity.
Utilities are undertaking more in-depth planning of their utility systems as part of the transition to cleaner energy sources. But CUB’s in-house experts found the utilities failed to do the in-depth analysis needed to determine whether these projects will truly be beneficial and make economic sense for customers over the long run.
“Simply labeling something an integrated resource plan doesn’t make it a robust one. It doesn’t make the grade if you haven’t done your homework well,” said Tom Content, executive director of CUB, the consumer advocate for Wisconsin residential and small business utility customers.
Case in point: natural gas prices. The utilities chose to examine the value the project would have for customers under a narrow range of natural gas prices. But CUB’s experts pointed out that natural gas prices have swung far beyond that narrow range.
In the end, the utility agreed to an analysis based on a wider range of natural gas prices, and that analysis found that this project wasn’t the most cost-effective alternative for customers in a majority of the scenarios they evaluated.
“Based on that analysis, a project this size wasn’t cost-effective, and if anything the Commission should have approved a much smaller version of the project – less than half the size of what will now be built,” Content said.
The natural gas plant is one of a series of projects the utilities are planning, at a cost of more than $2.5 billion, as part of its transition away from coal-fired power.
“CUB’s concerned that a lack of good planning led to over-building and driven up prices to the point where we’re now paying some of the highest electricity prices in the Midwest,” Content said.
The recent surge in natural gas and petroleum prices prompted by the war in Ukraine underscores why utilities, and regulators, need to analyze a wide range of scenarios when deciding which utility projects truly need to be built and paid for by utility customers in eastern Wisconsin.
An ongoing challenge for Wisconsin is a lack of a requirement that utilities submit integrated resource plans for approval by the PSC. These requirements are in place in nearby states like Minnesota and Michigan as well as a majority of the states in the country.
Find Out More: Check out CUB’s YouTube page for “CUB Tracks,” a conversation about the challenges for customers with this project.
Posted: February 25, 2022 by Tom Content
Pitch In and Donate to The Big Share
Get ready to join people from across the state in pitching in to support The Big Share 2022 this Tuesday.
By participating, you can help CUB and other nonprofits working for fairness “Make Change Happen.” That’s the theme for The Big Share, a one-day outpouring of giving in which hundreds of thousands of dollars are raised each year to support 70 nonprofit organizations that are part of Community Shares of Wisconsin.
CUB’s goal for The Big Share is to raise $5,000 to support our outreach and education efforts and work on energy security, and our Board of Directors and several small business members and supporters of CUB will match contributions dollar for dollar to help us hit that goal.
DONATE HERE!
CUB has been involved with Community Shares, a 51-year-old network of organizations standing up against injustice, for decades. Community Shares organizations advance human rights, fair housing, criminal justice reform, civic engagement, social and environmental justice, and a host of other causes.
For 42 years, CUB’s championed fairness for utility customers – homeowners, renters and small businesses across the state and given them a voice.
This year with your help we’re looking to build on our efforts to improve energy security, which is an ongoing challenge exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and by volatile and surging natural gas prices hitting customers’ heating bills. We helped utilities craft forgiveness programs that helped utility customers in dire straits move along the path toward paying their bills consistently.
Your donation will help CUB advance its work this year addressing energy security. Specifically, you’ll
Thanks for pitching in and supporting The Big Share 2022!
Posted: February 14, 2022 by Tom Content
Support CUB Outreach, Donate to The Big Share
CUB is gearing up for a big one-day fundraising campaign, The Big Share, which will take place on Tuesday, March 1.
We’re excited to announce that friends of CUB will match donations dollar for dollar up to $2,500 in this year’s The Big Share. Help us reach our goal of $5,000!
CUB is one of 70 nonprofits that are members of Community Shares of Wisconsin looking to raise more than $500,000 together at this year’s event.
With a minimum donation of $5, it is easy to get involved – and it only takes a few minutes to donate as part of The Big Share.
CUB has been involved with Community Shares, a 51-year-old network of organizations standing up against injustice, for decades. Community Shares organizations advance human rights, fair housing, criminal justice reform, civic engagement, social and environmental justice, and a host of other causes.
For 42 years, CUB’s championed fairness for utility customers – homeowners, renters and small businesses across the state and given them a voice.
This year with your help we’re looking to build on our efforts to improve energy security, which is an ongoing challenge exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and by volatile and surging natural gas prices hitting customers’ heating bills. We helped utilities craft forgiveness programs that helped utility customers in dire straits move along the path toward paying their bills consistently.
Your donation will help CUB advance its work this year addressing energy security. Specifically, you’ll:
With your help we will make The Big Share 2022 a huge success!
Posted: January 20, 2022 by Tom Content
Power Plant Projects Need Rigorous Review
As 2022 starts we are gearing up for a big year with a high-profile rate case involving the two utilities owned by WEC Energy Group, We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service.
While we prepare for that, it hasn’t been a quiet time in the PSC case arena.
Our regulatory team is focused on plans for building new power plants as part of the utilities’ ongoing clean energy transition.
And CUB is right there working on your behalf, assessing what’s needed, what’s cost effective and whether or not the utilities have justified these new plants — plants to be paid for by customers if approved.
We are currently tracking multiple cases at the PSC, including a We Energies-WPS proposal to add natural gas generation in Wausau and a proposal to add battery storage at a solar farm to be co-owned by We Energies, WPS and Madison Gas & Electric.
At CUB, we support a cost-effective transition to cleaner energy sources, but we want the utilities to make sure every dollar of spending on the transition is justified and is vetted by the PSC. To that end, we’re asking tough questions of the utilities to make sure they’ve considered a wide range of assumptions about where the energy world and markets are headed.
Recently, the PSC gave the go-ahead for WPS and MG&E to buy and operate the Red Barn Wind Park, at a cost of $162 million. This is one of the first wind projects approved by the PSC in years.
CUB urged the PSC to hold off on approving the Red Barn Wind Park to allow for a more rigorous review, in part because of the recent WEC announcements of plans to buy a natural gas plant in Whitewater and shift its new coal plant in Oak Creek from burning coal to burning natural gas.
These recent announcements by WEC “have the potential to significantly change the economics of WEC’s portfolio,” CUB wrote in a comment filed with the PSC.
CUB is asking tough questions to try to make sure every dollar of new spending is justified.
Utilities need to perform a sufficient analysis so that it’s clear to everyone whether or not their proposed project should be approved. If we don’t believe there’s enough good information and analysis done by the utilities to conclude that the projects are in the best interest of customers, we will oppose them.
It’s abundantly clear that we’re seeing a transformation of the utility system to cleaner sources, a shift sought by the public, by utilities, by utility investors and by us.
What’s not clear is how cost effective this transition will be for customers, which is why we’re still doing what CUB was created for 42 years ago —push, probe and prod monopoly utilities and the regulators to be the best stewards of customer dollars.
A clean energy transition shouldn’t be done in a way that drives up utility rates, worsens household energy burdens and inequality related energy insecurity. In other words, we need to keep affordability for all customers as a focal point while ensuring that we have a safe and reliable energy system.
Posted: October 13, 2021 by Tom Content
Prepare for higher heating costs this winter
Brace yourselves for higher heating bills this winter, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin utilities and the Energy Information Administration are warning of higher heating costs this winter given natural gas prices that are twice what they were a year ago.
Depending on how severe the winter is, households could pay hundreds of dollars more this winter compared with last winter, when natural gas prices were much lower.
We Energies said its customers can expect an increase of $25 a month, and Wisconsin Public Service, based in Green Bay, warned that heating costs could be up $40 a month, during the winter, assuming normal weather. Customers of Madison Gas & Electric can expect increases in the range of $25 to $30 a month. The cost for Xcel Energy customers may be even higher, at $45 to $65 a month. And the federal Energy Information Administration is also warning of much higher prices this winter, for the November-through-March heating season, for customers using natural gas or propane for heat.
The latest spot prices from the natural gas markets indicate that prices are much higher than they’ve been in years. And that’s on top of increases customers in Wisconsin are already seeing because of the cascading effects from the February winter storm that prompted homes across Texas to go without power for a week.
The impact of the winter storm Uri was felt as far away as the Upper Midwest because of spikes in natural gas prices caused by the sudden shutdown of natural gas pipeline infrastructure that hadn’t been properly winterized. Federal energy regulators last month urged utilities and natural gas pipeline operators to take steps to ensure that energy equipment is winterized.
The state Public Service Commission allows natural gas utilities to recover the cost of their equipment, such as mains and meters, but the price of the gas itself is not regulated by the PSC nor by the federal government. Those prices rise and fall based on market supply and demand conditions. CUB focuses much of its advocacy on the electric side of utility costs, because is able to have more impact there in keeping increases in check.
The surging prices come at a time when many Wisconsinites are still struggling as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. How high heating costs go will depend on several factors, especially how frigid the temperatures get and whether energy markets continue to see price spikes.
Prices have spiked in part because of a resurgence of economic activity and in part because of global conditions and increasing exports of natural gas.
Customers who are struggling financially are eligible for energy assistance, and Congress has appropriated more money this year to help homeowners and renters who are behind on their utility bills. Wisconsin has rental and mortgage assistance programs to help consumers, and both of those programs can help with utility bills for struggling customers.
Surging natural gas prices can also be expected to hit customers on the electricity side of their utility bills. The Public Service Commission will be finalizing cases in the months ahead that will set electric rates and fuel costs for the Wisconsin utilities for 2022. Natural gas prices affect these costs because of large power plants that burn natural gas to make electricity.
To the extent they can, customers should take steps now to plan for looming increases. In light of these increase, the time may be right to take a second look at whether to move ahead with a project to add insulation or upgrade to a more efficient furnace.
CUB urges customers to take advantage of Focus on Energy rebates that can help homeowners and renters save this winter if they add some insulation before the cold snaps hit. Here are some tips to consider if you have some money to spend to make some upgrades:
Posted: September 7, 2021 by Tom Content
MG&E Settlement: Clear Wins for Customers
MADISON – The Citizens Utility Board announced significant wins for Madison Gas & Electric’s residential and small business customers in a rate settlement filed with the Public Service Commission.
Among the wins:
MGE customers were frustrated by the massive fixed charge increases sought in in 2014. CUB members and others wanted us to keep pushing against higher fixed charges. MG&E’s fixed charge for electricity customers, currently the second highest in the state, will drop from $19 today to $17 in January and $15 in 2023, if the PSC approves the settlement.
“The reduction we negotiated will greatly improve the way rates are structured and will allow customers to control their electricity use to help them save energy and money,” said Tom Content, executive director of CUB.
“CUB’s been holding the line since 2017, keeping fixed charges from surging higher, but with this settlement we were able to get real savings for all customers plus a meaningful 21% drop in the customer charge,” he said.
CUB also reached a settlement this year with Xcel Energy’s Eau Claire utility that will reduce fixed charges for Xcel customers by 12% over the next two years. Xcel Energy’s electric fixed charge would drop from $17 a month today to $15 a month in January 2023. By 2023, MG&E, along with Xcel and Alliant Energy, will have the lowest big-utility fixed charges in the state.
CUB’s negotiations led to other innovative concepts that MGE is proposing for residential and small businesses hard hit by the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These include:
“From CUB’s perspective, utility rates overall are too high, small customers are paying more than their share of utility costs, small businesses need a hand recovering from COVID, and low-income customers should have access to energy efficiency measures like smart thermostats,” said Tom Content, CUB executive director. “That is why CUB believes that the settlement negotiated with MGE, in cooperation with the other settling parties, is a good deal for residential and small business customers.”
An increase in overall rates in 2022 was unavoidable largely because bill credits linked to corporate tax rate reductions are set to expire at the end of 2021. But CUB also worked for a “fair splitting of the pie,” to ensure small businesses and residential customers weren’t unreasonably paying costs that should be borne by large customers.
CUB always has to weigh whether litigating a rate case will be more effective than negotiating across the table from a utility.
“CUB knows that you can present the best arguments and best evidence in litigation, but at the end of the day it’s a roll of the dice,” said Corey Singletary, CUB’s director of regulatory affairs. “The settlement agreement give certainty to utility customers. “There are big wins for residential and small business customers that will bring real dollars and cents benefits over the next two years. This better positions CUB and Wisconsin’s residential and small business customers as we fight for safe, reliable, and affordable rates in the years to come.”
CUB is the sole customer advocate for all residential and small business customers of Wisconsin’s electric, natural gas and water utilities. CUB advocates for affordable, reliable, and safe utility service and fair policies for customers.
Posted: August 30, 2021 by Tom Content
Making Strides in a Tough Year: 2021 CUB Annual Report
CUB’s annual report highlights savings for customers, advocacy for those less fortunate during the pandemic and our work to position CUB for stability and strength in the years ahead.
The 2020 Annual Report, available here, provides a snapshot of what Your Independent Consumer Voice worked on during the pandemic.
The report thanks loyal CUB members who helped CUB manage through challenging times after a wrenching funding cut in 2015, and discusses the transformation that’s been under way for the last few years to move consumer advocacy for utility customers forward.
CUB will provide an overview of 2020 accomplishments and progress so far this year during its virtual Annual Meeting and quarterly Board of Directors meeting, this Thursday, Sept. 2, at 2 p.m. CUB members and the Wisconsin utility customers are welcome to attend, using this link.
Among the highlights: