GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The electric utility for northeast Wisconsin is making a second request to raise its monthly fixed charge.
The Wisconsin Public Service Corporation of Green Bay has filed an updated request to state regulators for a 10 percent rate hike next year.
The proposal includes a $6 increase in its fixed charge, to $25 a month. That’s after the same fee was raised by $8 for the current year.
The utility says it needs the higher fixed charge so all customers pay their fair share for common equipment like power poles — and it plans to reduce its energy usage charges to help compensate.
A group that represents consumers, the Citizens Utility Board, says customers would be charged $300 a year without even turning on a single light switch. They said it would hurt seniors on fixed incomes, and those trying to save on their energy bills.
The state approved higher fixed charges for other Wisconsin utilities last year, but it’s not known whether they’ll propose a second increase like Public Service did.
As for the 10 percent rate hike, Public Service says it’s needed after 8 years without what it calls a “substantial increase” in its bills.
Public Service is in the process of being acquired by Milwaukee’s We Energies.
The Citizens Utility Board, meanwhile, faces a proposed state budget cut which it says would put them out of business next year.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
