MILWAUKEE — We Energies is proposing a 14% rate increase over the next two years, a hike that would cost the average residential customer around $21 more per month by 2028.
The utility company is required to submit a rate filing to the Public Service Commission every two years. The proposed hike would start with about a 9% increase in 2027 and a 5.5% increase in 2028 for residential bills.
Watch: We Energies customer worried about newly proposed 14 percent rate increase
The amount of the increase worries customers like Julie Kaczmarek, who TMJ4 interviewed in March about this winter's increase in her energy bill. Kaczmarek uses solar panels as a cost-saving effort to keep her bills down, but she still sees an increase.
"The month of January, our bill was $130 more than January 2025, then February 2026, the bill was $175 more than February 25," Kaczmarek said. "I think I’d like to know more details, what, specifically, this rate what does it represent, what is it going for? Is it going to your data centers, or is it going to make you richer in the long run or is it going to enhance my life somehow."
We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said the company is guarding consumers from data center costs.
"What it really does, the majority of the costs, if you look at it, is to recover the costs for the new renewable energy and state-of-the-art natural gas plants that have been approved by the PSC, built, and are now going into service," Conway said. "What we’ve been saying from day one for over a year was no costs to serve data centers will go to our other customers, and this rate filing confirms what we’ve been saying."
Still, Kaczmarek is frustrated with the costs.
"I just feel like they can just say, we’re going to charge this and you’re just going to pay it because you have no one else to get your energy from," Kaczmarek said.
The PSC is expected to make a decision by the end of the year.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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