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.
Finding Your Voice – What’s Your Role in our Energy Democracy?
Posted: November 16, 2018 by Tom Content
The new issue of Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine features an insightful look at Wisconsin’s complex energy system, breaking it down and explaining it in an accessible way.
The article and a cool online feature by the academy help to simplify the wide variety of utilities that operate in the state and how they’re structured. Importantly, the article highlights ways the public can participate in energy-decision making, with information on how consumers can take action at the PSC, with their utilities, and in their communities.
Even though the energy market is changing rapidly, it’s still a system in which customers are served by regulated monopoly utilities. Instead of a market, utilities are regulated by the state, and that regulation is meant to serve as a proxy for a competitive market.
Sometimes the complexity can be off-putting and can make it seem like there’s no role for the public, but people can and should play an important part in deciding how utilities operate.
What’s important to emphasize is that YOU have a voice in how decisions are made. Sometimes residential and small business customers express that voice by joining CUB. That gives you a seat at the table when PSC decisions are made.
Other times, as with the Superior Water, Light & Power case that’s currently before the state PSC, you use that voice by submitting scores of public comments that are taken into account by commissioners before they make a decision.
In the Superior case, 170 comments have been filed, for a utility that serves just 15,000 customers. It’s a remarkable display of civic participation that we’d like to see happen more often across the state. The Madison Water Utility rate case is another recent example of significant citizen participation, where the 168 filed public comments had a clear impact on how the Commissioners viewed the case.
Don’t let the complexity of the utility world keep you from raising your voice. There are plenty of ways Find your voice in the energy democracy and speak out.
Subscribe below to CUB’s e-Newsletter for our regular updates, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn to keep up with what’s going on.
Let us know what confuses you about our utility system, or what concerns you have with your particular utility. Send questions to Tom Content, CUB, content@cubwi.org.
Category: Utility News