MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee residents could see changes in their utility bills in the future. City leaders are considering removing We Energies as the city's energy provider, to be replaced by a publicly owned electric utility. 

Nearly four hours of discussions took place at City Hall Wednesday, revolving around the possibility of removing We Energies as Milwaukee's energy provider. Critics say energy bills are becoming unaffordable, while others say changing to public utilities would be a gamble. 

It was standing room only at the hearing from the Public Transportation, Utilities and Waterways Review Board as we heard from experts and from people on both sides of the debate. 

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A state statute would allow the City of Milwaukee to bring in a new energy provider. Protesters are asking for what they describe as a "monopoly" to be removed.

"We need to have Democratic control over energy infrastructure, because it should be obvious to everyone that we can't trust shareholders to make the right decisions," District 3 Alderman Alex Brower said. 

We Energies' union opposes the proposal, calling it a gamble. 

"If the City of Milwaukee breaks from the energy statewide system, it also breaks away from people, tools, materials that make our service reliable," said Sam Rosenburg, Int'l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

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An expert in public power explained there are reportedly about 2,000 public power utilities in the United States, used in cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Antonio. 

However, over 80% of public utilities tend to serve 10,000 customers or less. 

"I will say that it is relatively rare for new public power utilities to form, because it is a lengthy process," said Ursula Schryver, senior VP of American Public Power. "It takes time, it takes commitment, and it takes money, and there will definitely be pushback from the industrial industry."

We Energies defends their rate hikes, saying costs for everything are rising, including energy, and they're focused on keeping bills as low as possible. They call the proposal an "expensive and radical idea."

"It seems unlikely the City of Milwaukee would do something like this and bills would not go up again," said Brendan Conway, director of media relations, WEC Energy. "Would likely cost billions of dollars to do so, and that's just a cost to start it. They would have to spend likely up to $100 million a year just on operations to keep it running, hiring people, call center, things that most people might not even think about."

This is only the first step, though. There would need to be a feasibility study to see what prices would look like and if this actually would work for our community. Then, there would be a referendum for residents to weigh in. Milwaukee residents likely won't see any changes for several years.