STURTEVANT — A Sturtevant woman says her family's utility bills have climbed nearly $80 a month this winter compared to last year — and she's not sure how much more they can absorb.
Lindsey Wachs, a stay-at-home mom who lives in a single-family home in Sturtevant with her husband, who runs his own business, said her energy costs rose from $312.44 in February of last year to $390.72 in February of this year. A review of her bills shows her electricity use is down slightly and her natural gas use is up slightly month to month — but multiple line items are being charged at a higher rate.
"My utility bill has gone from $312.44 up to $390.72," Wachs said.
Wachs said she has taken every step she can think of to reduce consumption.
"I'm turning off the lights when I leave the room. If we're out of the house for the day, I turn the thermostat down, try to turn the thermostat down at nighttime. Running the washing machine with only cold water. Shortening showers. Running the dishwasher at full capacity," Wachs said.
But she says those efforts are yielding diminishing returns.
"And these things are making less and less of an impact," Wachs said.
Watch: Sturtevant woman is cutting costs wherever she can, but says utility rate increases outpace her efforts
She says the rate increases are outpacing what her household's income can keep up with, and she's worried about what comes next.
"An increase of almost $80 a month during the wintertime. What is that going to look like next year? What is that going to look like in five years?" Wachs said.
The growth of data centers in the region has added to her concern. Wachs lives near Mount Pleasant, where Microsoft is investing billions of dollars on multiple data center campuses.
Microsoft has made public commitments to "pay utility rates that are high enough to cover our electricity costs."
The state's Public Service Commission is currently considering a proposal for a new rate structure to address data centers' energy use — a proposal We Energies says protects residential customers.
Under the proposed rate structure, companies building large-scale data centers in the state would pay 100 percent of specific additional energy capacity costs. Brendan Conway, spokesperson for WEC Energy Group, said the second part of the rate structure proposal is for We Energies' future energy needs, for which data centers would cover 75% of costs, with customers picking up the remaining 25%.
"It's not an amount, it's a percent. So we would like to know as consumers, is this going to cap out somewhere? Is there a limit? Or is it going to keep going up as more data centers are built?" Wachs said. "How many are going to be built?"
Wachs said she is cautiously optimistic about those commitments from We Energies and Microsoft.
"I do believe it, because they're nothing without their customers," Wachs said.
Still, the uncertainty weighs on her family's ability to imagine a long-term future in the state.
"We may have to look at our options long-term and decide, 'Is it going to be more profitable to stay here, or could we have, running a business, better success in another state?'" Wachs said.
For Wachs, she simply wants to know what to expect.
"You can only cut so much," Wachs said.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
