Public Service Commission of Wisconsin Ruled Requests to Increase Electric Rates for WI

Saturday, December 2nd, 2023 -- 7:12 AM

(Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) -The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin this week ruled on the last of a series of requests to increase electric rates for Wisconsin utilities.

The commission reviewed new requests by Madison Gas & Electric, Xcel Energy and Alliant Energy to increase rates in 2024 and 2025, as well as limited requests by We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service to modify 2024 rates after they were set last year. In their requests, utilities said the rate increases would help fund construction of renewable energy projects and grid modernization efforts. In the three new cases, regulators scaled-back the size of the electric rate hikes and took steps to limit utility profits, signaling an increased focus on affordability. At a meeting discussing Madison Gas & Electric, or MGE, earlier this month, Commission chair Rebecca Cameron Valq said regulators were contemplating overlapping issues in many of the rate cases. She said affordability concerns have become front and center. "You have a lot of capital being expended by the utilities, and you have a lot of customers, whether they are low- to moderate-income customers, residential customers, business customers, commercial customers, who are saying, 'We can't sustain additional rate increases,'" she said. "Those are the two things that came through loud and clear." In MGE’s case, the Public Service Commission, or PSC, approved an estimated 5.8 percent electric rate increase over two years. Initially, the utility requested a nearly 7.2 percent increase over two years. The PSC also voted to reduce the utility’s profit rate from 9.8 percent to 9.7 percent. That translates to an estimated $3.03 increase in 2024 on an average residential customer’s monthly electric bill, followed by another $5.73 average monthly increase in 2025.

For Alliant Energy, the commission approved an estimated 8.4 percent electric rate increase over the next two years instead of the utility’s requested 13.8 percent hike. The PSC also approved cutting Alliant’s profit rate from 10 percent to 9.8 percent. The approved increase equates to an estimated $6.74 increase for average residential monthly electric bills in 2024, and $8.02 the next year. Regulators also denied Alliant’s request to change reimbursement for solar customers putting energy back into the grid. In Xcel Energy’s case, the PSC approved a 0.1 percent rate increase for 2024 instead of the 4.8 percent hike the utility requested. That equates to an estimated $0.62 increase on an average residential customer’s monthly electric bill. Xcel also asked to boost its profit rate from 10 percent to 10.25 percent. The PSC rejected that request and instead cut the rate to 9.8 percent.

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