Question 1

What is the Public Service Commission (PSC)?

Accepted Answer

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC): it impacts the lives of every Wisconsinite, every day, and yet many people have never heard of it. Every time you turn on a light, adjust your thermostat, cook dinner, or turn on your faucet – you’re being impacted by the PSC. Every state has the equivalent of a Public Service Commission in place to regulate utilities, including the rates that customers pay for energy. A state’s PSC can have a big impact on a state’s renewable energy generation as well as serving as a final mediator for disputes between the customer and the utility. The PSC exists to serve the needs of both the utilities AND their customers, which means that every single individual in the state has the right to have their voice heard.

Question 2

Why do we need the PSC?

Accepted Answer

As consumers, whenever we buy something, we make a choice: is this product something I want or need? Is it made by a company that I approve of? Does this company have business practices that align with my values?

We can’t do that with utilities. Your utility company is determined by where you live, and where your energy comes from (e.g., coal, gas, solar, etc) is up to the utility. With utilities essentially operating as monopolies, the PSC is crucial to serve as a check. Oversight is critical to ensure that utilities provide reliable and affordable services to customers.

Question 3

How does the PSC work?

Accepted Answer

The Wisconsin PSC was established in 1907. It regulates public utilities, including investor- and municipality-owned utilities. (Rural electric cooperatives are self-regulated.) More information regarding utilities in Wisconsin can be found here.

The PSC is made up of three full time commissioners who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate for staggered six year terms. These commissioners decide the cases brought to the PSC.

The PSC primarily regulates gas, electricity, and water, and also oversees some regulation of telecom services (including telephone numbering and provider registration). PSC actions fall into four categories: proceedings, informal investigations, formal investigations, and rule-making:

Proceedings involve issues that can only be resolved by an order from the members of the PSC. Proceedings involve actions done by utilities that have the potential to have a major impact on customers. For example, if a utility wants to raise its rates, the utility has to propose the increase to the PSC. Proceedings are considered contested-case hearings due to the presence of two opposing parties arguing for their specific interests, similar to a court case. Proceedings must involve a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) before the PSC makes its decision.

Formal investigations deal with issues that do not require a formal hearing, although these are often still topics important for the consumer. For example, the investigation on net metering policy is a formal investigation. These investigations are opportunities for stakeholders to influence utility action, and include reviews of regulatory policies that might have wide-scale implications for multiple utilities or industries. Formal investigations also deal with other requests by utilities, such as proposals to construct smaller facilities or transfer ownership of a facility. While formal investigations do not require a hearing before the PSC’s decision, the PSC still needs to deliver an order to resolve a formal investigation.

Informal investigations primarily involve customer complaints. If you are trying to resolve an issue with your utility, and you are not happy with the outcome or process, you can lodge a complaint with the PSC and they may try to resolve the issue. Additionally to customer complaints, informal investigations also deal with open-ended investigations into a utility, such as the energy burden/customer affordability dockets involving Madison Gas and Electric and Wisconsin Power and Light. An order from the PSC is not required to resolve an informal investigation.

Rule-making involves simply changing or creating administrative rules that govern utility regulation. The rules must follow Wis. Stat. § 227 subch. II, which describes the limit of an agency's ability to create rules. Most rule-making cases involve a public hearing as well as opportunities for public comment on the proposal.

Question 4

What is a docket?

Accepted Answer

All actions taken by the PSC are organized into dockets. Specific dockets are identifiable by a unique series of numbers and letters. A docket number is required  to access docket-specific information.

The docket number contains three sets of information: 
a set of numbers identifies the utility involved with the specific docket. 
two letter abbreviations indicate what type of case the docket number is describing (UR for utility rate, i.e. rate case). 
a unique identifying number for the docket

For dockets that contain a contested-case (proceedings, occasionally a formal investigation), there is a strict, structured schedule that must be followed. A contested-case begins with a utility filing a docket application, whether it be a permit application, request to raise rates, etc. Other interested parties can file to intervene, which grants them greater opportunities to weigh in on the case. Deadlines are then set by parties with intervenors agreeing to follow a certain set of rules. The PSC then sets hearing dates.

Before the hearings, parties may submit expert testimony. During the hearing, parties can cross-examine one another. After the hearing, parties file briefs and motions. A brief is a written legal argument, and a motion is simply a formal request for the commission to take action in a docket (i.e. a motion to intervene, motion for a time extension, etc).

Question 5

How does the PSC affect you?

Accepted Answer

Nearly every decision made by the PSC will have a direct or indirect impact on consumers. The impact can range from influencing your finances through utility rates to significantly affecting our climate through decisions on solar access and fossil fuel power plants.

Utility Rates

Utility rates are determined by calculating the costs of providing natural gas and electricity to customers. Costs also include operating expenses such as labor, cost of materials, and return on capital investments to purchase equipment.

When a utility wants to raise its rates, the utility needs to file a rate case request with the PSC. The PSC then considers the utility’s finances and accounting information, as well as expert testimony. There are also public hearings, where customers can voice their opinions on the case through public comment or testimony.

Rate cases are incredibly important for consumers, especially for lower income individuals who are likely to experience higher energy burden. Higher rates for utilities disproportionately affect communities that already pay a higher percentage of their income on utility bills. Public participation is crucial for  ensuring that low income communities have a say in what is happening to their rates.

Solar Power

The PSC has an important role in determining the access and affordability of solar power for customers. The PSC approves utility-run large-scale solar projects and regulates many aspects of rooftop solar, including policies related to net metering. Net metering is the payment paid to customers who use solar energy to power their home. Any additional energy generated can be sold back to the grid. However, in Wisconsin, there are no net metering specific dockets. If net metering is involved, it is typically combined with another docket. An example is the Madison Gas and Electric rate case in the fall of 2023 where the WI PSC rejected MG&E’s additional request to pay the consumer less for renewable energy generated.

Power plant permits

A power plant permit is an application filed by a utility for the construction of a new power plant. The longevity of new power plants makes permit cases like these especially important. Plants are expected to run for 35+ years, with the average coal plant in the U.S. being 45 years old (Fritsch, 2021). In addition to approving the construction of power plants, the PSC can also direct utilities to close coal power plants and have influence over current utility requests to invest in new fossil gas facilities and other infrastructure such as pipelines.

Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)

In the 1980s, due to the increased volatility of fuel prices and concerns over generating capacity, many states began requiring utilities to adopt Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs). An IRP is a planning tool that requires utilities to conduct load forecasting, as well as various analyses (Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance). While not every IRP is the same, most follow the same basic metrics:

Reliability
Fossil and renewable energy resources
Base-load and peak generation
Energy efficiency policies and programs
Strategies to minimize cost for customers

Currently, Wisconsin does not have an IRP, although clean energy advocates in Wisconsin say that an IRP is crucial to help the state reach a 100% clean energy, zero carbon future by 2050.  The lack of an IRP in Wisconsin creates the risk of utilities planning actions that could lead to both redundant and inefficient infrastructure investment.  However, the PSC could develop an IRP requiring utilities to evaluate least-cost pathways to meet energy demand and include energy efficiency measures (Evolved Energy Research, 2022).

States that currently have an IRP, such as Minnesota, require a 15 year planning horizon by utilities that recurs every two years. This means that every two years, MN utilities must project 15 years out to see if their services meet their customers’ needs.

The MN IRP has also provided the opportunity to force utilities to incorporate increased renewable energy sources. According to the Minnesota Citizens Utility Board (MN CUB), in 2022, a major utility (Minnesota Power) was required to produce 300-400 Megawatts (MW) of wind power with at least 200 MW operational by 2026 (Crawford, 2022) . As part of the IRP, Minnesota Power is also required by the Public Utility Commission (Minnesota’s version of a PSC) to proactively engage with stakeholders – specifically, members of historically marginalized communities (Crawford).

In order for Wisconsin to reach our neighbor Minnesota’s level of renewable energy addition and stakeholder engagement with utilities, we need an IRP to plan for the future.

However, a robust IRP will not be created by the PSC alone. Parallel legislative action must be undertaken to require by law that utilities follow the plan, which means that your elected officials need to hear from YOU.

Question 6

The PSC and You: How Can YOU Engage?

Accepted Answer

Public involvement is crucial to influencing the PSC’s decisions during the hearing process. Often, the only voices heard by the PSC have been the utilities. Consequently, PSC decisions have almost always gone the way of the utility.

Recently there has been more attention paid to the PSC’s decision making and the influence of utilities on those decisions. With increased public attention and participation in PSC dockets, decisions can be made that help the consumer, not just the utility. In order for opposition viewpoints to be considered by the PSC, they must be entered into the record, and this can only happen through public comments and testimony.

Public Comments

Public comments are an accessible way to express your opinion as a consumer. Public comments also require the least amount of work when interacting with the PSC. Crucially, public comments must be considered by the PSC as they are entered into the record.

Commenting on a docket does not require any technical expertise in areas of energy or utilities. A simple statement on why the issue at hand is important to you is a powerful way to influence the PSC’s decision. While your comment does need to be about the subject of the docket, you can speak about any aspect. For example, if there was a docket regarding the raising of utility rates, your comment could discuss issues of energy burden for low income communities. However, it is important to keep in mind that testimony or comments must contain only personal knowledge or opinions. Any references made to material not written by the commenter cannot be entered into the record.

The docket number is always required when submitting a public comment and these comments may be sent as a letter or submitted online via the PSC’s Electronic Records Filing (ERF) System.

Public comments must be submitted during a specified time frame in order to be considered.

If you choose to comment at a live PSC hearing, the PSC also provides a guide to public hearings for more information on hearing processes, what to say in a hearing, and more.

Formal Intervention

Any person who has substantial interests that may be affected by the PSC decision (i.e. customers) can be an intervenor in a PSC docket. However, intervening requires many complicated procedural processes and more personal involvement than commenting, and working with an intervening group may be preferred or necessary. Recent intervenors on PSC dockets include 350 Wisconsin, Clean Wisconsin, RENEW Wisconsin, Walnut Way, and Blacks for Political and Social Action of Dane County.

Intervenors can file written comments, provide testimony, and submit exhibits to strengthen their argument. Intervenors are required to be at hearings for both parties in the case and be available for cross-examination. All testimony that becomes a part of the record is reviewed by the PSC.

Intervenors can also apply for financial assistance from the PC in the form of Intervenor Compensation (IC). IC can be used to support costs related to expert witnesses, legal fees, and staff time.

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