Wisconsin electric bills will be bigger in 2024 - how to weigh in - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin electric bills will be bigger in 2024 - how to weigh in

Electric rates are on the rise in Wisconsin. Here how you can weigh in on 2024 bills
Karl Ebert

Customers of four of Wisconsin's five largest utilities can expect to pay more for electricity in 2024, according to proposals submitted to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

Combined, the utilities are asking to collect an additional $500 million for their customers in 2024.

The electric rate proposals from We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service Corp., Alliant Energy, Madison Gas & Electric and Xcel Energy's Northern States Power Co. will each be heard separately in the coming months. Each wants the commission, which has oversight of utility rates and how they are allocated across customer groups, to finalize their cases by the end of the year.

In their typically biannual rate cases, the utilities ask regulators' permission to adjust what they charge customers to account for changes in fuel costs, new capital expenditures and other financial considerations. Commissioners can also review the utilities' allowable profit levels.

With all five utilities applying for rate adjustments, this year's agenda is particularly busy, so much so that the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin asked commissioners to stagger the rate cases to allow it to participate effectively as a consumer watchdog.

Here's what you need to know in advance of upcoming hearings and public input opportunities.

More: Wisconsin utilities want more than $500 million in rate increases. How much more will you pay?

How much will my bill change?

The utilities' 2024 rate proposals range from a small decrease to an increase of 8.4%. The numbers reflect proposed changes to residential electric rates where available:

- Alliant Energy (Wisconsin Power & Light): 8.4% increase
- Xcel (Northern States Power): 7.8% residential rate increase
- Madison Gas & Electric: 3.8% residential rate increase
- We Energies: 1.6% increase
- Wisconsin Public Service Corp. (WPS): 2.9% decrease

Why is WPS proposing a rate reduction?

The WPS and We Energy proposals each cover the second year of a two-year rate case.

Last year, the commission approved an 11.2% increase for We Energies' residential customers and a 9.4% increase for WPS.

Brendan Conway, a spokesman for the utilities' parent company, WEC Energy Group, said this years rates reflect a significant drop in the cost of natural gas since last winter. At WPS that resulted in a rate reduction even as the company seeks to recover new costs from building renewable energy and natural gas storage facilities.

What's driving up costs?

While no two proposals are exactly alike, there are common threads.

Each utility is seeking to recoup the costs of building solar farms and other renewable energy projects and investment in new natural gas facilities as key drivers of the increases. But in some instances, they also are seeking to recapture unexpected fuel costs from last winter. Some also are seeking to increase the return on investment, or profit, they are allowed to earn.

Isn't renewable energy supposed to be cheaper?

In the long run, the utilities anticipate billions of dollars of consumer savings from the transition to solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.

But getting there is expensive and, right now, consumers are being asked to foot the bill for a slew of projects currently under construction.

"The whole vision of the green energy transition from the utilities' point of view is what they've been calling 'steel for fuel' — we're going to replace fuel costs with the steel that we're using to build solar," said CUB Executive Director Tom Content.

He said WPS' proposed rate reduction is the first rate request that appears to begin to deliver on that promise, though he noted that those savings could evaporate if natural gas prices spike again.

Here's how to make your voice heard

Each of the rate cases will include opportunities for public comment.

Public comment periods for the WPS, Alliant and MG&E rate proposals opened Tuesday. The comment period for the WPS proposal runs through Oct. 4. The Alliant comment period ends Oct. 9. The MG&E comment period ends Sept. 29.

The commission announces comment periods on its website for all issues it regulates.