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A recent state projection shows

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Wisconsin will lose more than $2

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billion in sales tax revenue

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because of an exemption written

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into the 2325 state

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budget for data centers, a

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break designed to promote economic

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development.

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Three years later, the state is

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swimming in new data centers with

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consumer concerns about water

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and energy usage.

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But in a win for consumers, the

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Wisconsin Public Service Commission

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just ruled that Existing

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electricity customers should not

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pay a single cent to subsidize

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the service of data centers.

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The ruling is also a major

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win for the Citizens Utility

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Board, which fought on behalf

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of customers.

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Executive Director of Cub, Tom

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Content, joins us now with more.

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And thanks very much for being here.

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Oh, great to be with you.

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So you've said that this

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case was the most significant

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one the CUB has ever been involved

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in.

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So when the PSC ruled, what was

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your reaction?

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I was frankly surprised.

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I've had a good feeling that we were

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going to get some of what we asked

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for in terms of significant changes

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to what the proposal was,

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but we got the vast majority

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of our changes or changes

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that addressed our concerns.

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The commissioners really sent a

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message.

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Even though they can't control every

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cent, they sent a massage that

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every dollar needs to be accounted

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for, and as

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one of the commissioners put it,

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every cent should be paid for by

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the tech companies.

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So how does the proliferation of

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data centers in Wisconsin engage

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consumers in

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a way that other rate cases may not

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have?

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I think it's a

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combination of concerns

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about rising energy costs,

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because we've already come into this

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period with rising energy cost

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that have risen at rates higher than

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inflation, paired with

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the local community reaction

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and basically the Wisconsin

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reaction, as noted

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in the Marquette polls,

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to data centers.

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And, you know,

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the Marquette poll that just came

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out. Showed a lot more clarity about

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where Wisconsinites stand about data

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centers than it showed about who's

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running for governor.

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And by a two-to-one margin,

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people said that costs of data

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centers outweigh the benefits.

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And I think layered into that is

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fear of AI and

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what the

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impacts of AI are on

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the economy and society down the

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road. I think that played into it

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too.

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Because I understand that

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thousands of people kind of

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came to Cub and said yes,

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we want the PSC to rule in this

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way.

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Thousands of people went to the p s

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e hearings uh...

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Or p s c hearings or fit submitted

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comments online and so those could

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have been uh...

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People in milwaukee people around

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the state we energies customers

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and others i mean frankly the

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tech companies and the utility uh...

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More saying the right things all

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along that they were going to uh...

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Meet their demand or that

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they're going to um...

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Play their own way.

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But for us the devil was always in

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the details and we found some

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loopholes and just areas of concern

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where we thought the risks that

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customers were still going to be on

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the hook were too too high with what

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was uh...

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Well with the proposal

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So does the ruling

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mean that power company customers

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will not be on the hook at all

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for the giant energy needs of

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these data centers?

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They went as far as they could.

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They ran into a couple

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areas where they couldn't go as

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far they wanted because certain

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things were out of the state's

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control.

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And what I mean by that is if

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people may have seen that at

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the White House, the tech companies

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were at the white house

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pledging to pay their own way and

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signed a rate payer protection

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pledge. Now that was more of an

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optics document,

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a rhetoric document, and it was

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non-binding.

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But it actually committed the tech

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companies to pay their way for all

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the network upgrades, which

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to us sounds like the power lines,

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right? The big power lines.

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And the fact is,

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our power line company, American

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Transmission Company, that is

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building $2 billion of

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infrastructure to feed these data

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centers, is actually regulated

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out in Washington D.C.

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So the state public service

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commission couldn't change

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that. And so as a result,

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The commissioners sent a message

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that they could only go so far, but

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they called on ATC

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and the WeEnergies parent company

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to make changes that

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would protect customers from,

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frankly, billions of extra costs

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tied to these projects.

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What else stood out for you from

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the PSC on this case?

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I think what stood out is that

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the...

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The fact that the data centers will

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be on the hook for 100% of the new

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power plants.

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There was one scenario where

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other customers, small businesses,

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homeowners, renters, and

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other businesses would be on the

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hook up to 25% of the cost

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of new power plants, and that's

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not a small number.

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WeEnergies has already gotten

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approval for almost $2

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billion in projects and has another

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$6 billion in the queue.

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So.

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A quarter of that would have

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been a couple billion dollars on the

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hook that customers would have

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responsible for.

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So that was a big, the

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biggest change and

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one that we really appreciated.

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Well, we appreciate you joining us

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today on this time content.

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Thanks so much.

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Thank you.

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Yeah, it almost feels like when was

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the last time the little guy?

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Exactly.

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I know, it feels like

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I can't speak

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for all my past executive directors,

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but in terms of the billions of

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dollars that are involved in

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this one, versus a typical rate

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case, which is maybe hundreds

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of millions, but this is multiple

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billions, so that's how it

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felt good.

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Boy, time goes fast on these

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interviews, right?

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Yes, and thank you for your patience

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at the head of it.

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Oh, no, no problem.

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And if you want to point people to

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more resources, we have some on our

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website, on our data centers page.

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Thank you so much.

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Safe travels. All right.

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All right, take care now.