Dive Brief:
- We Energies proposal to increase its fixed fees is drawing criticism from green energy proponents who say the utility is discouraging ratepayers from installing solar panels.
- The utility has proposed raising fixed monthly fees by roughly 75%, from $9 per month to about $16, and simultaneously lowering the base “variable” energy charge by about 3.3%.
- A local meeting on the rate drew more than 200 people, according to Midwest Energy News, most opposing the proposal.
Dive Insight:
Rate proceedings are normally a sleepy affair, but hundreds of angry and concerned customers crammed into a Milwaukee meeting room this week to oppose what they see as an attack on customers shifting to cleaner sources of energy.
The proposal "will disproportionately affect the company’s lowest-usage customers, raising bills for customers that use less energy while reducing bills for the company’s highest-usage customers," said the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC), which filed comments jointly with solar advocate Renew Wisconsin.
Renew Wisconsin did its own analysis of the proposal, and said the plan adds a capacity demand charge that offsets nearly 30% of a customer’s savings from solar, and rates under the plan pay solar generators 4.2 cents for "each extra kilowatt-hour of electricity they create, while re-selling that electricity to other customers at up to 28 cents during peak daytime summer hours."
"At no point has the company justified why it needs to increase fixed charges by 75% for all of its customers in order to 'protect' them from the 0.04% of its customers that have installed DG," Renew Wisconsin and ELPC in their comments to state regulators.
