REGULATORS APPROVE RATE HIKES FOR ALLIANT, XCEL CUSTOMERS
Wisconsin regulators have approved rate increases for two utilities serving about a quarter of the state’s customers. Alliant Energy’s electricity rates will rise 6.2 percent in 2022 and stay flat the next year under the plan approved by the Public Service Commission. Gas rates will rise 8.6 percent next year.
Xcel Energy electricity rates will rise more than ten percent next year and at least another 2.5 percent in 2023 depending on fuel prices. Gas rates will go up 8.4 percent in 2022 and another 2.3 percent the next year.
For Alliant customers, that will add about $10 a month to the typical residential electricity bill and about $4 a month to the average gas bill in 2022, according to PSC estimates. Xcel customers can expect to pay about $5.63 more per month for electricity and $4.63 more for gas next year. The utility also agreed to reduce the current $17 flat monthly fee by $1 each year, something WEC Energy Group has proposed to keep rates flat next year for customers of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service Corp.
REGULATORS APPROVE MGE RATE HIKE
Madison Gas and Electric customers will pay slightly more for the electricity they use next year under a plan approved by regulators. But in a win for consumer advocates, the utility will lower the flat monthly fees that disproportionately affect those who use the least energy.
In split votes, the Public Service Commission agreed to approve a deal negotiated between MGE, consumer and environmental organizations and UW-Madison. The average residential customer will pay about $7.50 more per month for electricity and gas service next year, according to PSC estimates.
The new rates represent an increase of about 5.2% to electricity base revenues and 2.2% for gas, driven by the utility’s investments in an Iowa County solar farm, new billing software and improvements to the gas distribution system. Fuel costs are expected to increase by about $15 million. Savings from the 2017 federal tax cuts, which had been used to offset spending increases in recent years, have been exhausted, though the utility agreed to trim operating expenses by about $1.1 million.
