Required utility reports sparse on state website

From an article by Ben Jones in the Appleton Post-Crescent:

MADISON — State rules require Wisconsin utilities to disclose meter and billing problems in a yearly report to regulators and the public.

The information, typically on a single page, includes things like the number and dollar amounts of back charges and refunds issued to customers. The reports are to go to the Public Service Commission.

But most utilities don't file the report, The Post-Crescent discovered.

While the state's largest utilities filed the report as required by the April 1 deadline, just 26 of 94 public and investor-owned utilities followed the requirement this year, The P-C found while searching out the information for analysis.

Charlie Higley, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, a ratepayers advocacy group, called The P-C's findings "troubling."

"That's the type of thing that seems to be falling through the cracks," Higley said. "Regulated companies don't face competition. And so in order to make up for that they are imposed on to prepare reports providing some indication of the level of service they are providing.

"These reports could indicate whether they are providing good service or not. And that's an important function."

The P-C first contacted the PSC in May when the newspaper could not find the forms online, more than six weeks after the reports were due. In response, the agency sent a letter to utilities reminding them of the filing requirement. Only one utility, the village of Pardeeville, filed a report afterward.

The missing reports are "one minor, tiny little issue," said Teresa Weidemann-Smith, a spokeswoman for the PSC. She said the agency would contact utilities individually to make sure they file.

"Is this something that is at the forefront of our list of priorities? I would have to admit no, it is not," Weidemann-Smith said.

Higley said it is important for utilities to file the information and it is also important that the commission is not lax in reviewing the filings and using the information to ensure good service.

"That's the concern that we would have," he said.