We Energies’ proposal to change the way it bills all of its customers and add new charges to solar system owners isn’t terribly popular. Testimony at the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Milwaukee hearings on Oct. 8 was pretty much uniformly in opposition to the monopoly’s punitive rate hike.
So when a representative of a Texas-based group called Consumer Energy Alliance submitted a petition with 2,500 names that support We Energies’ rate hike—and a similar one proposed by the Madison-based utility Madison Gas & Electric (MG&E)—more than a few folks were skeptical.
Madison reporter Mike Ivey called a few “supporters” and found that they were totally opposed to the rate hike.
Also on the list was Michael Sinicki of Milwaukee, who just happens to be married to Democratic state Rep. Christine Sinicki, who told the Shepherd that there’s “no way in hell” that her husband would have signed a petition supporting the rate hike. She opposes it, too.
So the list looks fraudulent, and after a complaint was filed by environmental activists—the Environmental Law & Policy Center, RENEW Wisconsin and the Alliance for Solar Choice—the state PSC tossed out the phony petitions. The Consumer Energy Alliance provided no real evidence that the folks on their list knew what they were “supporting,” nor did the group explain, exactly, how it gathered those names in the first place.
Not surprisingly, Consumer Energy Alliance is a fossil fuel-friendly Astroturf group that doesn’t seem to represent the best interests of consumers. Rather, big corporate lobbies like the conservative Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce are members.
Fortunately, the clean energy advocates won this round. We’ll have to wait and see whether the PSC will do the right thing and not allow We Energies and MG&E to penalize clean energy users in their December decision on these proposals.
