Why does Wisconsin
need a law regulating
these data centers?
Wisconsin
currently has no laws
on the book
that provide
any regulatory
oversight
with regard
to transparency
accountability
for water usage
for energy rates
for those community
impacts that people
are very concerned about.
So this
legislation is intended
to provide
an overarching
regulatory framework
to fill that current vacuum.
How does your bill protect
utility ratepayers
or consumers?
It's a great question
because we really wanted
to focus on that in terms
of the transparency
and accountability again.
Utility rates
are already too high
in Wisconsin
and with winter
coming down, it's very much
front and center
on people's minds
especially in these uncertain
economic times.
So what this bill does
is it establishes
a very large
customer class
which these big data
and data centers
would fall into.
That class
would be responsible
for the extremely high
energy production needs
that they call upon
not individuals or
families separate from them.