WPS
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Electricity is something that most people can’t live without these days, but many struggle with the bills to pay for it, as the costs seem to climb and climb.
The Consumer Price Index indicates electricity prices across the country have risen 5.5% since January, which is more than double the increase for the average cost of living.
U.S. Energy Information Administration data shows customers were paying nearly two cents more per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in May than they were just five months earlier in January.
“For every individual utility across the country, the factors are going to be a little bit different in terms of what their needs are, their energy, what their customer base is like, and essentially what resources they have to provide energy and power to their customers,” says WPS spokesman Matt Cullen.
Some of those factors around the country could simply be supply and demand. As the demand for electricity goes up, infrastructure must match that need.
Others argue President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and cuts to things like the clean energy sector, programs that increase new electricity capacity and to tax credit programs are all to blame. The increased need to generate power for data centers and AI facilities is another factor.
But local officials in Wisconsin say there’s no need to worry.
“Our rates continue to be below the national average and in line with utilities across the Midwest,” Cullen adds. “We haven’t had any near-term changes that I’m aware of in our rates for our customers. We had a rate review that was finalized by Public Service Commission of Wisconsin last year, and so those rates have been in place now since the beginning of this year.”
That means rates for WPS customers will be locked in for two years.
The national average for electricity sits at 20 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), while in Wisconsin, the average is 17 cents/kWh.
However, Cullen says area customers will be getting a break on their bills soon.
“For our customers, they will be seeing a little bit of a benefit because our costs in 2024 to generate power to them, the fuel costs… Our estimates were greater, so our customers are going to receive a credit on their bills coming up in the months of September and October, depending on when their bill is,” Cullen says.
So while areas across the country might deal with varying prices, Wisconsin seems, for now, to be steady.
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