A bill introduced in Wisconsin — that cold, politically divided state of the north — would give regulators more control over whether and how private utilities invest in upgrades, and more sturdily lock-in utilities' clean energy commitments.
Customers of private electric utilities live at the whim of private decisions, often driven by satisfying private investors. In Wisconsin, the state's Public Service Commission already approves utilities' construction projects, however, the new bill would require utilities to submit two-year construction plans, giving certainty to customers and minimizing surprises for major projects that could increase utility bills. The bill would also allow the state's PSC to require that utilities use a financing mechanism to limit the impact of the projects on customers' wallets.
The proposal would also require utilities to include their clean energy goals in these two-year plans, which makes it more difficult for utilities to delay deadlines on commitments such as coal plant retirements, something utilities can currently do at will.
Whether this bill has legs remains to be seen, as does whether an additional bureaucratic step will protect customers from sudden rate increases due to new investments from the utilities. California has safeguards against utility investments, yet rates for customers of PG&E and SDG&E have skyrocketed in recent years because of investments approved by the state's California Public Utilities Commission. I chalk this up to what has been a growing scrutiny around the state of play for privately-owned utilities. We've seen this in various forms around the U.S., in efforts that have included trying to kick private utilities out of state jurisdictions, as well as stand up publicly-owned power providers. I have a feeling we're going to see more this in the decade to come.