“The senior community often lives on the edge. With expenses for food, rent, medications, and utilities constantly rising, saving money to pay these bills is extremely difficult. It is impossible to save on utilities when the base rate keeps rising. Careful usage does not work in this case. Please be aware of this as you decide what to do with the current rates. We could sit in the dark and our rates would still increase.”
This poignant public written comment is addressed to the Wisconsin Public Services Commission (PSC) regarding the mandatory fee increase proposal by Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS). WPS has proposed increasing the mandatory fixed charge from $19 to $25. This request is coming less than a year after WPS was approved to increase fees; in fall of 2014, WPS was allowed to increase their monthly fixed charges from $10 to $19. If WPS’s additional fee hike is approved, customers will be paying $300 a year without even turning on a light!
Fixed charge increases have many flaws. The steep fee increases are unfair. Those who use less power are being unfairly penalized — this includes senior citizens and low-income families, who rely on fixed incomes or need to make every penny count. Customers with low energy usage, including low income customers, will face higher bills. Seeing 10 to 20 percent increases on their power bills can make a huge difference on their lives. WPS has stated that they would eventually like to charge everyone $68 per month just for electricity. At this pace, we may not be that far off—and who knows how many could suffer.
Additionally, these unavoidable monthly fees remove the ability for customers to control their electricity costs. By reducing one’s savings from pursuing conservation and clean energy alternatives, this billing design encourages increased consumption of fossil fuels. Because of this, fixed costs disincentivize energy efficiency.
Finally, increased fixed charges are anti-competitive. Raising the mandatory monthly charge while lowering the energy rate will reduce the savings on one’s bill from efficiency measures and/or generating solar electricity at home. If approved, WPS’s current proposal will redirect even more of your bill savings into the utility’s bottom line.
Mandatory fixed charge increases aren’t right for Wisconsin. Increasing fixed charges harms senior citizens and low income communities, disincentivizes a switch from electrical to renewables, and creates an unnatural monopoly by eliminating competing business. It is clear that this path of increased fixed rates is not beneficial for Wisconsin citizens or the Wisconsin economy.
Tell the PSC this has to stop--it's not right and we can't afford it.
The public hearings for WPS’s fixed charge increase are on:
September 9 at 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM
The Brown County Library-Kress Family Branch,
333 North Broadway, De Pere, Wisconsin 54115
and
October 6, 2015 at 9:30 AM
The Amnicon Falls Hearing Room--
1st Floor Public Service Commission,
610 North Whitney Way, Madison, WI 53705.