WE Energies rate request for data centers OK’d

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin has issued a decision about a We Energies’ rate request that would apply to data centers.

In its unanimous decision, the PSC made major modifications to improve the tariff. The changes include:

• Extending the Very Large Customer tariff minimum initial term length to 15 years. This change prevents cost-shifting to existing customers.
• Lowering the energy demand threshold for tariff eligibility from 500 megawatts to 100 megawatts. This change expands tariff applicability to smaller data centers, which further shields existing customers from data center-related costs.
• Requiring tariff revisions to address the risk of transmission cost shifting from data center customers to existing customers.
• Removing a capacity-only option that would have allowed data centers to only pay for 75% of the costs of generating facilities. The removal of this capacity-only option and the approval of the Full-Benefits resource model protects existing customers by requiring the Very Large Customers to pay 100% of their costs.
• Ordering additional reporting requirements to provide visibility into how the tariffs work in practice and created a mechanism for the commission to make future adjustments if needed.
• Ordering additional reporting requirements to bring greater transparency to agreements between the utility and its VLCs.

In March 2025, We Energies submitted an application proposing the new tariffs in response to large data center customers entering the utility’s service territory. The PSC conducted a year-long review of the tariff application, which included detailed scrutiny and analysis by PSC staff and intervening parties, and a robust public engagement process. Throughout the proceeding, members of the public and participating organizations raised concerns about aspects of the utility’s application and how it could impact existing customers.

The Commission discussed this case during its April 24, 2026, open meeting. A full recording of the open meeting is available on the PSC’s YouTube channel.