Proposed Takeover of We Energies Will Get City Hall Hearing
Potential benefits, challenges of city takeover pushed by Ald. Brower will be discussed.
Alex Brower and electrical infrastructure. Brower photo from campaign, electrical image in public domain.
Alderman Alex Brower‘s proposal to replace We Energies with a publicly owned utility is about to take a major step at Milwaukee City Hall.
The concept will have its first public hearing on June 24.
“Necessities like electricity and natural gas should be provided for the collective benefit of all, not for the profit of shareholders,” wrote Brower in a letter to his colleagues. “While the process is long and may be difficult, our city will be better served by a utility that, like the Milwaukee Water Works, we own.”
The meeting will discuss the legal framework under which such a proposal could be implemented. The American Public Power Association is expected to participate.
The discussion will be held before the Public Transportation, Utilities and Waterways Review Board, a seldom-used entity chaired by Ald. Robert Bauman.
Brower, in his 2025 campaign, made the creation of a public electric utility his top campaign issue. He has long participated in the Power to the People campaign, which has advocated for a public takeover for several years.
He spoke at length about the plan in a March 2025 interview with Urban Milwaukee.
“As a Common Council, we can collectively begin the steps necessary to replace We Energies, as outlined in Chapter 197,” wrote Brower in his letter, outlining the key state statute.
Brower said the time was right given the company’s repeated raising of its rates in the last four years. “We Energies has failed the residents of Milwaukee and it’s time that we look to other operations,” he wrote.
We Energies defended its record in advance of the meeting.
“Energy bills for customers in Milwaukee remain below the national average. As part of a larger network, We Energies can draw on experienced crews, modern equipment and a depth of technical expertise to restore power quickly and maintain reliable service. This has resulted in customer savings and reliability that has been recognized by independent experts across the country,” said a spokesperson. “In addition, We Energies is aggressively supporting the climate goals of the city. In fact, We Energies is partnering with the city on numerous solar projects that create local jobs and power the local grid with clean energy. These benefits would be virtually impossible to replicate through municipalization.”
The meeting, open to the public, will be held in Room 301-B at City Hall at 9 a.m.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
Political Contributions Tracker
Displaying political contributions between people mentioned in this story. Learn more.
I support Bower all the way, Better get cracking before some big utility/VC invested for troesca take over.
Agreed! Let The City do the job without giant salararies and bonuses for the execs, officers and board. “Like the Water Works!”
I’m supportive. Public ownership has been very successful in Cleveland I recall – keeping their system affordable during a 1990’s crisis that upended energy market Contracting out essential services seems like an easy fix. But accountability over price and performance suffer. Examples: sewer system and bus service come to mind …
This will be interesting, and I support Brower in his bringing attention to this vital topic.
Let’s do it. We need to rid ourselves of the monopoly that operates with a guaranteed profit.
I have l often wondered what justified the huge salaries of WE Energies execs, particularly the compensation granted former CEO Gayle Klappa, So I took a look back.
A 2017 piece in the Milwaukee Journal reported his annual salary ranged from $500,000 a year to $646,000, while his full annual compensation package, primarily driven by stock rewards and ‘incentive plans’, (whatever that entails), was $9.44 million to $11.29 million….ANNUALLY!
And who knows what his successor is now making, running a corporation with no competitors.
Imagine how the elimination of bloated and unnecessary executive salaries alone could impact energy rates, then add the savings possible under a more accountable public ownership.
This corporate scam has gone on long enough. Kudos to Alderman Brower.
What a great thing it would be to take on the burden of power generation. We could put wind turbines in Lake Michigan!
But I can’t help thinking it’s a pipe dream.
Our City customer base would be small. WE could throttle us when we need more power.
Another Republican State legislature would outlaw it.
And it would mean a helluva lot of investment.
Even though we can’t fix our own damn roads.
If you eliminate the 10% profit We Energies makes each year, and cut executive salaries…but then add much more expensive city pension plans and healthcare plans for all the employees, along with city mandated bureaucratic processes that cost money (i.e. a city employee sitting in a running air conditioned vehicle looking at facebook “overseeing” a contractor do repair work), do we actually end up with lower rates? I’m not so sure we do.
Smowbeer : while your overall point of “will rates really be lower?” Is the crux of the matter in my opinion it’s not cuz guys are sitting in trucks.
WE has placed power lines snd gas lines on every street to every home in Milwaukee. Power lines. Gas piping.
Invested billions to make that happen.
When they were doing that I guarantee you guys were sitting in trucks eating donuts wasting time cuz they were tired, etc.
The truth is WE will never let the City have those lines and pipes and substations and repair crews without billions of $$.
Ain’t gonna happen.
gerry and snowbeer, it’s not just the execs’ salaries, those guys get big bonuses every year, too. I’m sure the Directors, who would no longer be required to attend a fewf meetings a year, are receiving some sort of compensation, and it couldn’t be a toen amount. And don’t forget the dividends paid out to stockholders every year! The 10% profit you mention is a fraction of the total savings the City would enjoy and our rates would plummet, while the new provider, us!, would quietly do a great job like the water works and sewerage.
token amount
I was just thinking about Weinergies’ advertsing and marketing budgets. No need for any of that! More savings!
Also, here’s some food for thought: Alex Brower told me that there are already 82 municipalities in Wisconsin providing power to their citizens. This isn’t something new. Manitowoc is the biggest of them.
MilwPhil: Those lines do not belong to We Energy, they belong to the citizens of Milwaukee and their representatives i.e. city government. That’s part of what it means to be a “public utility.” Besides, a part of the rates we paid is for installation and maintenance of those lines. This is one of the reasons people are upset about data centers.
Just to be clear, the proposal is not for a “Takeover of We Energies,” but to consider establishing a City of Milwaukee publicly-owned utility for electricity. We Energies would continue as a private investor-owned corporation and serve its customers in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (I know you didn’t mean this, but the headline might alarm people at the prospect of Milwaukee “taking over We Energies.”) The City of Milwaukee has owned a public water utility, the Milwaukee Water Works (MWW), since the 1870s. This proposal is for a public utility for electricity.