We Energies customers in Kenosha, Pleasant Prairie, Somers, Bristol and Paris will pay more for electricity starting in 2027 after Wisconsin regulators approved a rate increase on Thursday, Nov. 5.

The three-member Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) voted during a meeting that stretched past 10 hours to approve a smaller hike than the utility requested, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Overall electric rates will rise 3.9% in 2027 and 3.5% in 2028, according to We Energies' preliminary estimates. The utility had asked for 4.6% and 4.5%, respectively.

A typical residential customer can expect $7 to $8 added to their monthly electric bill in 2027 and another $6 to $7 in 2028. Those figures come from WEC Energy Group, We Energies' parent company, as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio. We Energies had originally proposed increases that would have added $15 to monthly electric bills in 2027 and $8 to $9 more the following year, the Journal Sentinel reported.

The bills keep climbing. The approved hikes represent the fifth and sixth consecutive rate increases for We Energies customers since 2020, according to the Journal Sentinel. A typical residential customer's bill increased 33% from 2022 to 2026, according to the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin (CUB), an independent nonprofit consumer advocacy group. Statewide, energy bills have risen 24.6% since 2020, according to regulators.

Commissioners cut utility's profit rate

The PSC reduced We Energies' return on equity to 9.5%, according to the Journal Sentinel. The commission also denied We Energies' request to charge customers for board of directors expenses, a move CUB said will save customers $5 million over two years.

Commissioners also leveled out payments on shuttered coal plants over 20 years, which the Journal Sentinel reported will cut $31 million from customer bills in 2027. The same approach applied to retiring coal plant units in Oak Creek will save another $31 million in 2028.

The PSC authorized the return of more than $25 million to We Energies customers through changes to the utility's earnings-sharing mechanism, according to a PSC press release issued Nov. 6.

Tom Content, CUB's executive director, said regulators sent a message that "costs are going to be scrutinized more carefully because affordability is front and center," according to WPR.

Commissioners acknowledge burden on customers

PSC Chair Summer Strand acknowledged the strain on customers during the Nov. 5 meeting.

"We heard you loud and clear that utility rates are too high, and that your monthly bills are already a financial burden," Strand said, according to WPR.

PSC Commissioner Kristy Nieto said during the meeting, "I also do not believe we can ignore the cumulative impact of years of increases simply because each individual increase can be explained by a particular investment or expense," the Journal Sentinel reported.

Small business owner Lisa Geason-Bauer spoke at a September public hearing in the case, telling the PSC that rising electricity costs have made it difficult to grow her company, WPR reported.

WEC Energy Group spokesperson Brendan Conway said in a statement that the company worked "with customer groups and Commission staff to reduce costs to customers by tens of millions of dollars," according to WPR. Conway added that the PSC's actions ensure "no costs to serve data centers are shifted to other customers."

The PSC is expected to issue its written order with final rates in a few weeks, according to WISN.