We Energies Rate Hike for 2027 and 2028

  • April 18, 2026
870 450 Tom Content

WE ENERGIES CURRENT RATE CASE,

PUBLIC HEARING COMING SEPT. 1

 

In April, We Energies requested to increase electric rates and natural gas charges in 2027 and 2028. The utility asked for total increases of $480 million over the next two years for its electric and natural gas utilities. This case comes after We Energies customers saw double-digit hikes phased in over 2023-24 and 2025-26.

CUB is actively involved in the case, searching for savings and opportunities to pare back the size of the increase. Here are some key facts about their proposal:

In PSC case 5-UR-112, We Energies is requesting:

Electricity bills

Requested electricity hike for 2027: $168.7 million, or 4.6%
Requested electricity hike for 2028: $178.4 million, 4.5% on top of the requested 2025 increase
Total requested increase for 2027-28: $347.1 million, 9.3% above current prices

Residential impact: 16.3%, phased in over two years. See  We Energies bill insert here.
For a typical customer using 660 kWh per month: $144 bill today would rise by $13 in 2027 and another $8 to $9 in 2028, for a total of $22 above today’s costs. That’s another $262 per year by 2028.

Natural Gas bills

Wisconsin Gas: $59.4 million in 2027, $37.2 million in 2028. Total increase: $96.6 million.

Wisconsin Electric Gas Operations (serving southeastern Wisconsin)
$2 million in 2025, $33 million in 2026. Total increase: $35 million.

Steam utility (downtown Milwaukee)

$0.1 million for 2027, $1.2 million for 2028. Total increase: $1.3 million.

Links to Richard Stasik and Joseph Zgonc overviews of the case.

IMPACT OF DATA CENTERS on THIS CASE

  • We Energies’ rate case was filed while the big case involving how data centers will pay for their energy needs was still proceeding. The decisions on that case should change the amounts in the initial We Energies’ proposal, especially the decision to require tech companies to pick up 100%, not 75%, of the cost of new power plants for data centers.
  • We Energies and American Transmission Co. are both discussing ways to fix a big loophole in the data centers case that exposes customers of We Energies and other Wisconsin and Michigan utilities to about $2 billion in costs for big overhead transmission lines.
  • CUB is reviewing the ATC-We Energies proposals to ensure this transmission fix is workable and lives up to commitments tech companies and utilities made — independently and as part of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge — assuring that tech companies pay their own way for the network upgrades needed for data centers.
  • Another key issue in the data center case was whether non-data center customers, including the customers CUB represents, would be on the hook for up to 25% of roughly $8 billion of new power plants needed to serve data centers. After the PSC’s rejected this in the data center pricing plan (tariff) case, customers will not be on the hook for 25% of new power plant costs. Therefore, this portion of We Energies’ rate hike request should come down.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE INCREASE?

  • We Energies attributes the increase to power plant projects to meet increasing demand for electricity. This includes solar and battery projects that would start hitting bills in 2027 and a new natural gas plant in Oak Creek that would hit bills in 2028.
  • Other factors include:

SPOTLIGHT ON PROFITS

  • CUB urges the PSC to go further than it has in the past to reduce profits, particularly in this affordability crisis. CUB Chief Economist Steve Kihm proposes to reduce the return on equity to 9.1%, whereas the utility wants to increase its return to 9.9%. CUB’s proposal would save more than $100 million in 2027, with similar savings expected in 2028.
  •  Two years ago, the PSC declined to reduce profits for We Energies. CUB’s advocacy in that case would have saved $125 million over two years.
  • In the new proposal, We Energies wants to hike its return on equity back to 9.9%. We Energies also seeks a “capital structure” change that would allow it to profit more than it does already — by allowing a greater portion of its spending to capture those returns.
  • Wisconsin investor-owned utilities already receive the fifth highest profit rates in the country, forcing customers to shoulder energy bills that are too high.
  • The parent company of We Energies, WEC Energy Group, reported total profit of more than $1.6 billion in 2025, the bulk of it from its Wisconsin utilities.

AFFORDABILITY IS JOB ONE

  • CUB is concerned that utility customers of We Energies are paying among the highest rates in Wisconsin. In addition, a new analysis ranks We Energies the third highest utility among 50 utilities across the Midwest. Small business customers of We Energies also face high costs — the 11th highest in the Midwest.
  • Customers’ bills have more than doubled over the past 25 years, at a rate faster than inflation. 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 outperfoming other utilities by a wide, wide margin.
  • An alarming 24% of Wisconsinites are moderate income, or working poor, making not quite enough to get by and struggling. Another 11% are low income, according to CUB’s analysis.

WHAT DOES CUB WANT CHANGED?

OUR SIX BIG ASKS:

  1. Reduce profit rate (return on equity) to 9.1% and require electric utility to tap low-cost debt. Savings to customers: more than $100 million in the first year, 2027. Expect a similar amount in 2028.
  2. Disallow cost overruns for the Koshkonong Solar Project. Projected savings: $27 million.
  3. Require shareholders, not customers, to pay for WEC Energy Group Board of Directors fees. Projected savings; $5.3 million
  4. Require customers to pay fewer association dues for We Energies. Projected savings: $1.8 million.
  5. Require We Energies to implement more demand response programs to enable savings identified in a demand response potential study the utility prepared this year.
  6. Divvy up the pie fairly among data centers, large manufacturers and residential and small business customers

 

RATE CASE TIMELINE

  • April 1: Application filed in PSC Docket 5-UR-112
  • Spring-August: PSC Audit, CUB, other groups’ analysis
  • August 10: CUB experts, PSC staff, other groups weigh in
  • Sept. 1: Public Hearing in person and on Zoom. See PSC Notice of Hearing here.
    • ATTEND IN PERSON: 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sept. 1, Alumni Memorial Union, Marquette University, Ballrooms B and E, 1442 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee.
    • ATTEND BY ZOOM: 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sept. 1,  https://us02web.zoom.us/my/pschearings
        • If no adequate internet connection exists, join Zoom by telephone at +1 312 626 6799 Enter Meeting ID: 809 513 2930
  • Subscribe to CUB Updates to stay in the loop.
  • Sept. 15: Hearing for utility, CUB, PSC staff, other groups
  • Sept. 18: Last day to submit public comments on the case.
  • Sept. 25, Oct. 2: CUB, We Energies, other groups to submit legal briefs (closing arguments)
  • Likely in November: PSC Open Meeting when PSC Commissioners will vote on their decisions in the case
  • Likely in December: Written PSC Decision to be issued

FIND OUT MORE

HAVE YOUR SAY

The public comment period is open! There are three ways to speak up and speak out. You can submit a comment in writing on the PSC website, or attend the public hearing either in person in Milwaukee or via Zoom on Sept. 1. Details here.

You might also like