Dive Summary:

• Angered by We Energies’ rising electricity rates, Wisonsin utility customers are pushing for deregulation that would increase competition in the market and drive prices down.
• Companies already selling natural gas (which is an already deregulated market) to businesses in the state are interested in expanding their offerings, and two Washington, D.C., trade groups—Retail Energy Supply Association and the Compete Coalition—are weighing in to see if they can breathe new life into Wisconsin’s utility deregulation debate.
• Wisonsin’s power prices have seen sharp increases that place the cost above most other state in the Midwest, and unlike moves made toward deregulation in the 1990s, most state utilities haven’t signed on to the new competition push.

From the article:

Every time We Energies seeks a rate increase, utility customers rail about the fact that rates are going up, and that they don't have a choice in who supplies their power and sends them a bill every month. "We are tired of being told we have to pay more for our electricity from them. They are a monopoly, and I cannot purchase my electricity from anyone else," Bob Wincek of New Berlin recently wrote state regulators about the price increase that's set to be voted on later this year. …