Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Rate Hikes, How Many More Will You Take

From The Peshtigo Times.
"Hearing Sept. 24 On WPSC Rate Requests
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) announced Thursday, Aug. 13, that it will hold two hearings on the application of Wisconsin Public Service Corp. (WPSC), Green Bay, to adjust electric and natural gas rates on Thursday, Sept. 24. One hearing is for parties admitted to the proceeding and one for members of the public.

The first hearing for parties admitted to the proceeding will be held at the PSC offices in Madison starting at 9:30 a.m. The second for the public will via teleconference in Green Bay, Wausau and Madison at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. The Green Bay hearing is at Holiday Inn, 200 Main St.

Also on Thursday, the PSC announced it is awarding $253,510 in funding to a utility watchdog to hire expert witnesses to testify in the case. The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) received $99,000 for a pair of rate cases involving Wisconsin Public Service Corp. The remaining $154,510 will be used by CUB to contest rate increases by We Energies, Wisconsin Power and Light and two Madison based utilities.

CUB represents residential ratepayers and receives the funding in order to participate in the formal review of proposed utility rate cases before the PSC.

Each year the PSC awards funding to various organizations and individuals with finances to help them participate in cases. The PSC is allotted about $750,000 annually for intervenor groups.

WPSC on May 1 filed an application to raise electric rates by 4.95 percent and natural gas rates by 3.44 percent. If approved, it would increase the electric bill of a typical residential customer using 630 kilowatt-hours of electricity by $4.15 per month. The typical residential natural gas customer using 900 therms of natural gas annually could expect an average monthly increase of $3.22." Peshtigo Times Wisconsin Community Newspaper


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