Gov. Tony Evers sent Washington another letter this month, demanding an end to federal orders that keep three old coal plants in Michigan and Indiana running a little longer. He says those plants are costing Wisconsin families $117 million.
Here is what he left out. Five days before he sent that letter, in the middle of a summer heat wave, the operator of Wisconsin’s power grid had to declare an emergency because it was about to run short of electricity. Wind turbines, which make up roughly one-sixth of the region’s total power supply, produced only a sliver of the electricity everyone actually used that week. Coal, natural gas, and nuclear plants kept the lights on. One of the coal plants Evers wants shut down, running at full strength, could have out-produced every wind turbine in the entire region combined for hours that day.
The plants he is targeting in his letter are not the budget-busters he claims, either. The Campbell plant in Michigan is one of the cheapest power plants of any kind in the country, cheaper than a new gas plant and far cheaper than new wind or solar once you add in the cost of batteries to back them up when the wind is not blowing. During last winter’s brutal cold snap, the Indiana plants ran when the grid needed it most, while the wind and solar Evers prefers were not there to do the job.
If Evers wants to talk about your electric bill, he does not need to write to Washington. He can simply take a look in the mirror. Since 2019, the commissioners hand-picked by Governor Evers at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission approved more than $2 billion in rate hikes in the name of so-called clean energy. Every new solar field, transmission line, or grid upgrade the PSC signs off on comes with a built-in rate of return for the monopoly utilities. The incentive is always to build more, not less. The more the PSC approves, the more the utilities collect from hardworking Wisconsin families and small businesses.
Another important note that Governor Evers failed to mention in his second letter: Wisconsin utilities have already retired coal plants ahead of schedule, and ratepayers are still paying for them. Utilities owned by WEC Energy Group alone will carry more than $1 billion in retired power-plant debt, recoverable from customers (that means you) with a guaranteed rate of return attached. That is the flip side of shutting down reliable coal capacity before its useful life is up: ratepayers still pay the cost of the plant that is shut down at the same time they are covering the cost of whatever the PSC approves to replace it.
Coal did not raise your electric bill. Governor Evers’ quest to appease his environmentalist friends and the PSC commissioners he appointed is to blame: first by approving $2.2 billion in rate hikes that reward utilities for building, then by leaving ratepayers holding a $1 billion tab for coal plants retired before their time. Add in a grid that needed every one of the coal plants Evers wants gone to keep our lights on, our air conditioning running and our heat on, and it’s clear that the real villain in this story might not be a coal plant producing power in Michigan or Indiana. He might be the person sitting in Madison pushing an agenda that is costing Wisconsin families billions.
