Supervisor David Bowen Critical of Proposed Utility Rate Increase
Urges Public Service Commission to Table WE Energies Rate Hike Request
Supervisor David Bowen today released the following statement regarding a proposed utility rate increase by WE Energies:
“Hard-working families in Milwaukee County cannot afford the large utility rate increases proposed by WE Energies, and I encourage the state Public Service Commission to table this proposal so families can keep current rates. Poverty continues to grow and both Milwaukee’s and Wisconsin’s economies lag behind national rates of growth. This is the wrong time to give additional increases to WE Energies, which has already been given increases above the level of inflation at 51 percent on residential bills since 2005, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“In addition, as an advocate of green energy, this proposal threatens to reduce future numbers of residents that want to use solar energy. We should be doing more to give our residents more bang for their buck, not preventing progress of a greener community.”
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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The original entire concept of providing more instate production of renewable sources was to put a dent into the over $12 Billion annual dollars Wisconsin exports for the purchase of energy. The ignorant Republican legislature and Governor approved the purchase out of state of renewable sources to meet the current goal. Every dollar saved in the state churns the local economy here twice over. Instate production was the initial goal as a long term strategy that benefits our economy.
Now the monopoly utilities in a rush to crush consumer additions of renewable owned production have requested a rate change to the fixed monthly charge and larger charge for renewable producers. This move is all about crushing future expansion of consumer owned production, energy efficiency additions, and the only real competition in the past 100 years, that impact the residential sector the most. http://www.jsonline.com/business/mark-tauscher-to-speak-out-for-solar-power-as-utility-rate-hearings-begin-b99366099z1-278316851.html
This pathway continues to push Wisconsin downward as a progressive minded state and will damage all of us for decades to come. Wisconsin is an energy poor state lacking coal, oil, and natural gas options. Renewable sources are one of the few options available that can increase a diverse selection and offer competition and hedge against the ongoing price increases in fossil fuels.