Wisconsin regulators revise We Energies data center tariff to shift full costs to tech companies

MADISON Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Public Service Commission met Friday, April 24, to consider a proposal by the Wisconsin Electric Power Company. The proposal aims to make sure that data centers are paying their own way. The commission spent hours discussing We Energies' proposal and made several changes to the proposal that please consumer advocates.

We Energies is proposing a tariff structure for data centers. Basically, it requires data centers to fund the construction of all renewable energy properties the utility is building to meet capacity needs. They have several projects for wind solar and battery plants already approved and others going through the approval process.

“The record of this proceeding was filled with analysis and testimony from intervening parties and public comments imploring the commission to improve the tariff, not to deny it, but to make it better,” Summer Strand, chair of the Public Service Commission, said.

In the eyes of the Citizens Utility Board, the commission took steps to do that. We Energies' tariff proposal originally only targeted large data centers but changes the commission made changed that.

“They will make it required for smaller data centers, different than We Energies proposed,” Tom Content, the executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, said. “They added a longer contract term length than We Energies proposed. Those were big changes.”

The commission is also now requiring data centers pay for 100% of the capacity plants that will need to be built. Those plants won't run every day, but they will be needed when energy use is high, like when it’s really hot or really cold. It's a change consumer advocates say is necessary to keep everyday people's bills manageable.

“The tech companies are very wealthy, as everybody in Wisconsin knows, and they have the means to pay their own way,” Content said.

Companies like Amazon, Google, Meta and several other AI companies all did sign the “Rate Payer Protection Pledge” back in March, according to the White House. The Public Service Commission will issue their official ruling on this proposal in a few weeks.