Rate-hike requests go under the radar

From an article by Richard Ryman in the Green Bay Press Gazette:

In all of Wisconsin, four people showed up Thursday at public hearings for electric and natural gas rate hikes requested by Wisconsin Public Service Corp.

Two testified.

Hearings were videocast simultaneously from Green Bay, Wausau and Madison twice on Thursday.

They were regarding a 2009-2010 two-year rate hike request by the Green Bay-based utility. This is the first year in many that the state Public Service Commission is considering a two-year request.

The state commission is considering whether to approve an 11.78 percent electric and 2.9 percent natural gas increase, those percentages being based on the utility's rates as of January. It received some interim electric increases this year and those are included in the overall hike.

Wisconsin Public Service is asking the commission to approve a "decoupled" rate structure, which means the utility will receive a set amount of revenue regardless of electricity or natural gas usage. It won't make more money when usage is high, but it won't make less when it is low.

The decoupling request is part of an agreement between WPS and Citizen's Utility Board for the utility to actively support energy conservation through modified rate structures and other programs. The modified rate structures will be tested in a four-year pilot program in three mid-sized communities to be decided later.