The Wisconsin Public Service Commission voted for a rate
plan submitted by We Energies that environmentalists say penalizes customers
who conserve energy and jeopardizes the fledgling solar industry in
southeastern Wisconsin.
“We feel like what the PSC approved for the We Energies rate
case is a huge setback for Wisconsin in the area of clean energy development,”
said Keith Reopelle, senior policy director for Clean Wisconsin, a statewide
environmental advocacy group.
In a mid-November vote, the commission split 2–1 in
approving We Energies proposed rate changes. The plan will be finalized in
December and take effect in January.
The commission approved a 75-percent increase in the monthly
fixed charges that residential customers see on their bills in southeastern
Wisconsin and the Fox Valley area. Monthly fixed fees will go from $9.13 to
$16. We Energies said it needs to increase the charge so all customers — large
users and small users — share in maintaining the company’s infrastructure.
“What we’re proposing is fair rates for all our customers
who use the grid,” said We Energies spokeswoman Jessica Williamson, according
to the AP.
As the fixed fee goes up, hourly usage rates would drop by
less than a cent per kilowatt-hour.
The two commissioners who backed the increase, Phil
Montgomery and Ellen Nowak, were appointed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker. The
commissioner who voted no, Eric Callisto, was appointed by Democrat Jim Doyle.
“Under this decision, customers who use more will see lower
bills and customers who use less will see higher bills,” said Robert Kelter,
senior attorney with the Environmental Law and Policy Center, a nonprofit
active on conservation issues throughout the Midwest. “It sends the wrong price
signals on energy efficiency because it makes it harder for customers to
control their monthly bills.”
A ‘solar tax’
The We Energy plan also involves billing changes for
customers investing in renewable energy systems, with a provision that existing
owners of solar systems will be grandfathered for 10 years.
Under the changes, customers with renewable energy systems
will pay We Energies $3.80 per kilowatt per month, based on the size of the
system. This means that a property-owner with a 4 kW solar system would pay
$182 annually to We Energies for owning that solar system.
Additionally, We Energies reduced the price credited for
excess generation from the current 14 cents per kilowatt-hour to just 3 cents
per kilowatt-hour.
“This decision is bad for job creation, bad for energy
independence, bad for the environment and bad for customers,” stated Tyler
Huebner, executive director the conservation group RENEW Wisconsin.
He continued, “Our Republican-appointed commissioners
approved a new tax, killed jobs and restricted energy choice in Wisconsin.”
Huebner said the commission ignored facts and a “record
level of over 1,900 public comments” in reaching its decision on the We
Energies rate changes.
And Reopelle recalled the results of a pre-election poll
showing Wisconsinites overwhelmingly support more reliance and investment in
clean energy, not less. “We Energies’ proposal was especially egregious in
terms of how it treated solar power,” he said, adding that there is great
potential for developing clean energy sources in the state but “the policies we
have in place are not particularly friendly.”
‘rapacious demands’
We Energies is not the only Wisconsin utility seeking rate
changes that involve increased fixed monthly fees and slightly lower hourly
rates. The PSC voted to raise Wisconsin Public Service Corporation’s fixed
monthly charge to $9, less than the $15 that the utility asked for. As WiG went
to press, a request from Madison Gas and Electric was pending.
The regulatory decisions drove Democratic lawmakers to call
for an investigation and reform of the state regulatory process and pushed
Alliance for Solar Choice, a group advocating solar energy, to announce plans
to sue once the We Energies plan is finalized.
Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter, calling for “major
reform,” said, “The PSC has shown that it is either unwilling or unable to
protect residential customers in the face of rapacious and predatory demands of
large public utility corporations. The PSC members are supposed to balance the
public utilities’ desire for a regulated profit with what is fair for the
customers. The failure of the PSC to provide such balance is simply
unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, state Rep. Christine Sinicki questioned the
integrity of the regulatory process in the wake of a Capital Times report
finding that some people identified on a “Consumer Energy Association” list as
advocates of We Energies’ plan didn’t actually back the requests.
She said her husband “was falsely listed as a supporter” and
“was not contacted by the CEA and does not support the We Energies proposal.
Further, he does not support raising fixed fees on utility bills in a way that
harms homeowners, seniors and clean energy development.”
Sinicki characterized the CEA as a Houston-based lobbying
group for the fossil fuel industry and said its list of supporters for the We
Energies proposal was oddly identical to a list it submitted in support of
Madison Gas and Electric’s rate hike plan.
The lists were tossed in late October by an administrative
law judge who determined they contained “inadequate and incorrect information.”
Sinicki said she’s concerned about fraud and corruption.
No comments:
Post a Comment