A year after receiving an 83% increase in the fixed customer charge on monthly electric bills, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. is seeking another increase in that fee — this time by an additional 32%.
The state Public Service Commission will consider the Green Bay power company’s proposal this week and by the end of the year is expected to vote on a proposal from an Eau Claire utility to more than double its fixed charge.
The new bids to increase the monthly charges come after the Green Bay utility, Milwaukee-based We Energies and Madison Gas & Electric Co. all won approval of big increases a year ago.
The proposals — and those this year — met with widespread opposition from consumer advocates and other organizations, including AARP. Those critics say the higher fees discourage customers from conserving energy and hurt low-income electricity customers.
Utilities say higher fixed charges are offset in part by lower rates tied to electricity usage and are designed to help them better allocate costs associated with costs that aren’t linked to the price of energy, such as repairing power lines damaged by storms.
WPS also says rural electric cooperatives have imposed higher fixed charges on their members. Their rates aren’t regulated by the state, however.
If approved, the fixed charge paid by WPS customers will have more than doubled since last year, from $10.40 to $25 a month, Patricia Finder-Stone of AARP said during a public hearing on the Green Bay utility’s proposal.
“It makes consumers pay more before they even turn on their lights,” she said. “This increase has a disproportionate effect on seniors and others that are living on limited or fixed incomes.”
Last year, the PSC ultimately approved an increase of 85% to $19 a month for Madison Gas & Electric Co.; 75% to $16 a month for We Energies of Milwaukee; and 83% to $19 a month for WPS.
Wisconsin has become an outlier on fixed charges based on what utility regulators have approved around the country.
A review of decisions in other states by Renew Wisconsin found that 35 utilities proposed to increase their fixed charges in 2014 and so far in 2015. Of those, 14 utilities were required to keep the charges unchanged, while 18 were allowed increases between 1 cent and $4.30 a month. The biggest increases were the three in Wisconsin, ranging from $6.83 to $8.71.
“Only in Wisconsin have large increases been granted,” said Tyler Huebner, executive director of Renew Wisconsin, a renewable energy advocacy group.
When ruling last year, Wisconsin commissioners agreed with utilities that they should be able to charge higher fixed fees in response to changes taking place in the energy sector as costs fall for renewable energy that customers can generate themselves.
PSC staffers and analysts are recommending that the commission hold off on further increases to the fixed charge for WPS.
“Given the small amount of time since the current rates went into effect, the commission may wish to hold off on additional fixed charge increases until more information is available as to how WPSC’s customers are responding to the price signals” from last year’s decision, said Corey Singletary, energy policy analyst at the agency.
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A year after fixed-fee increase, Green Bay utility seeks another
