Milwaukee, WI residents demanded that the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) reject utility monopoly We Energies’ proposed rate hikes at two public hearings held on September 1, 2026.
In April 2026, We Energies (Wisconsin Electric Power/Wisconsin Gas) filed for a 16.3% rate increase across 2027-2028 to the PSCW. For the average resident, this would add $22 per month to their utility bills by 2028. We Energies stated that the additional revenue will cover “costs for new solar, wind, battery storage and natural gas projects.”
We Energies is a subsidiary of WEC Energy Group, which is a Milwaukee-based energy monopoly worth about $34 billion. The monopoly sells service to 4.8 million customers across Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota, each with its own subsidiaries.
Since 2023, the utility monopoly has increased rates by over 25% following approvals from the PSCW, despite pushback from residents. The PSCW will vote on the proposal by the end of the year.
Residents criticized the utility monopoly’s massive profits, pointing out that many Milwaukee families are struggling with the rising cost of living. Residents also cited frequent power outages and poor service.
“We face a bigger problem with We Energies than we ever have before,” one resident testified. “Our bill last month was over $500… We are working full-time, two jobs—hard, physically demanding jobs, with good money, and we cannot afford these bills like this. My husband last week alone worked over 70 hours to be able to afford our bills and groceries and everything else. I’m working overtime.”
“I’m here because We Energies shuts off one out of every ten homes in Milwaukee,” another resident stated. “That’s not a rumor. That’s their own record in 2024. We are literally playing survivor, no cash prizes for us, a city-wide eviction notice from We Energies.”
The monopoly’s top five executives received a combined $68.6 million from 2023 to 2025, with CEO Scott Lauber receiving $11.8 million in 2025 alone.
During the hearing, a rally was held at Zeidler Union Square in downtown Milwaukee, where several residents protested against the proposed utility rate hikes. Many attendees spoke out against the construction of energy-intensive AI data centers in southeast Wisconsin and its impact on utility rates.
“This is just ridiculous that we need this many data centers in the state of Wisconsin; we don’t,” an elderly resident testified at the hearing. “And the electricity is only one part of it, but that’s what we’re here for today. And so I respectfully ask that the PSC deny this rate increase and also future ones as well. They don’t need it. They have enough money. We don’t. And that’s it.”
There have been two large data center developments in southeast Wisconsin. Microsoft’s “Fairwater” in Mount Pleasant and OpenAI/Oracle’s “Lighthouse” in Port Washington.
In March 2025, We Energies proposed data centers pay 75% of the construction costs, with the remaining 25% of the construction costs and all fuel and operating expenses falling on the ordinary ratepayers. Initially, the PSCW voted to strike it down, requiring the data centers to pay 100% of both capital and operating costs. Later on, the PSCW submitted a cost-shifting loophole to federal regulators that would push $441 million of data center power-line costs onto residents.
Image: A natural gas pipeline in Pennsylvania. Credit: Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania.
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