- Update: Check out the op-ed column in the Sunday Milwaukee Journal Sentinel taking We Energies to task for the size of the rate hike and its plans to keep profiting for years to come after its coal plant shuts down.
We Energies wants rate increases for 2 years, but uses fuzzy math (jsonline.com)
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In April and May 2024, We Energies filed an application to change electric rates in 2025 and 2026.
We Energies is seeking total increases of $605 million over the next two years (2025-26) for its electric and natural gas utilities. This case comes after We Energies customers already saw a double-digit hike during 2023 and 2024. Find out more about that case here. We Energies also has proposed more than $2 billion in natural gas power plants and related projects. Find out more about that here.
CUB will be actively involved in the case, searching for savings and opportunities to pare back the size of the increase. Here are some key facts about the utility’s proposal in this case:
In PSC case 5-UR-111, We Energies is requesting:
Electricity bills
Requested electricity hike for 2025: $240.7 million, or 6.9%
Requested electricity hike for 2026: $177.9 million, 4.8% on top of the requested 2025 increase
Total requested increase for 2025-26: $418.8 million, 12% above current prices
Residential impact: 18.5%, phased in over two years.
For a typical customer using 660 kWh per month: $128 bill today would rise to $12 increase for 2025, and another $12 for 2026; total = $24/month
Small business impact: 15% overall increase over two years
6.4% increase for 2024, 8% increase for 2026
Natural Gas bills
Wisconsin Electric Gas Operations (serving southeastern Wisconsin)
$57.5 million in 2025, $31 million in 2026. Total increase: $88.5 million.
Wisconsin Gas: $67.7 million in 2025, $30.6 million in 2026 (total $98.3 million).
Total increase for We Energies over two years: $186.8 million
SPOTLIGHT ON DEAD COAL PLANTS
• We Energies seeks to keep earning more than $300 million in profit long after the older Oak Creek coal plant shuts down. The first part of that plant is shutting down by June 2024.
• The PSC indicated last year it wanted the utility to come up with more alternatives to save customers money.
• We Energies is already building plenty of new projects as part of the energy transition, with customers footing the bill. As if that is not enough, We Energies now wants customers to also continue to pay for coal plants that have been retired and aren’t providing energy to customers. In other words, We Energies wants to have its cake and eat it too.
• Saddling customers who are already paying among the highest prices in the Midwest with hundreds of millions of dollars of additional costs is not right.
- CUB weighed in with testimony recommending that the PSC eliminate profit on a coal plant that’s shut down. That would yield savings of $36 million in this case, and more than $300 million between now and the early 2040s.
OTHER ISSUES IN THE CASE
• New Solar, Natural Gas, Battery plants: Roughly half of the electric hike is linked to new generation projects such as solar and natural gas plants that have been approved.
• Approved LNG (liquified natural gas) projects are driving the requested natural gas increases.
• Other Drivers: We Energies is requesting more funds to manage vegetation and the effects of storms and also argues that it needs more funding for its Low Income Forgiveness Tool (LIFT), a program aimed at keeping low-income customers from falling behind on their bills and being shut off.
• Affordability: CUB is concerned about the magnitude of the 2025-26 increase, particularly for customers struggling to make ends meet. CUB’s testimony analyzes the energy burden facing We Energies customers, and found neighborhoods in Milwaukee and across the state where customers are facing high or severe energy burdens.
SPOTLIGHT ON PROFITS
• CUB urges the PSC to continue its progress in reducing profits. The PSC brought down the utility’s return on equity to 9.8% in the last case from 10-10.2%.
• In the new proposal, the utility wants to reverse those gains and hike its return on equity back to 10%. CUB is advocating a further reduction, to 9.3%. That would save about $125 million over the next two years!
• Wisconsin investor-owned utilities already get the fifth highest profit rates in the country, forcing customers to shoulder energy bills that are too high.
RESTORING BALANCE BETWEEN SHAREHOLDERS AND CUSTOMERS
• CUB is concerned that utility customers of We Energies are paying among the highest rates in Wisconsin, and the Midwest.
• Customers’ bills have more than doubled over the past 20 years, at a rate faster than the inflation rate. Meanwhile, income and wealth disparities between the wealthiest Wisconsinites and everyone else continue to grow.
• Shareholders of We Energies’ parent company, WEC Energy Group, have done exceedingly well during that time, with gains for WEC doubling the returns of a typical utility.
EXPECTED TIMELINE
- April, May: Application filed.
- Spring/Summer: PSC Audit, Analysis
- August-September: CUB experts, PSC staff, other groups weigh in
- Sept. 24: Hearing for utility, CUB, PSC staff, other groups
- Oct. 1: Public Hearing in Racine
- Oct. 3: Public Hearing in Milwaukee
- Oct. 7: Last day to submit public comments on the case
- November: PSC Open Meeting to decide the case
- December: PSC Decision to be issued
FIND OUT MORE
HAVE YOUR SAY
Provide a comment during the public hearing, either in person or over Zoom, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1 in Racine and 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3 in Milwaukee.
- Attend the Oct. 1 Racine hearing in person in the gym at Cesar Chavez Community Center, 2221 Douglas Ave., Racine 53402.
- Attend the Oct. 3 Milwaukee hearing in person at Drury Plaza Hotel, Great Lakes Ballroom, 700 N. Water St., Milwaukee 53202.OR
Attend either the Oct. 1 or Oct. 3 hearings via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/my/pschearings or by calling (312) 626-6799, using Meeting ID 809 513 2930.
OR
• Submit a written comment on the PSC website by Oct. 7, 2024