Wisconsin’s largest utilities are not keeping up with commitments to reduce fossil fuels, according to the Dirty Truth report from the Sierra Club, which gave both We Energies and WEC Energy Group "F" grades.
Jadine Sonoda, campaign coordinator for the Wisconsin chapter of the Sierra Club, said the report evaluates utilities based on their investments in clean energy, retirement of coal plants, and avoidance of new gas plant expansion. We Energies scored only 6% while WEC Energy Group, the parent company of We Energies, received a failing grade of 10%.
Sonoda pointed out it is a significant decline from We Energies' previous scores of 11% last year and even higher in the previous years.
"We really need to see better leadership from utilities," Sonoda asserted. "They often, including We Energies, talk a big talk about the transition to clean energy and we know that right now, clean energy is cheaper and yet they’re still continuing to propose more and more fossil fuels."
A spokesperson for We Energies said through email the report fails to address affordability and reliability for customers and does not take into account the near gigawatt of clean energy powering the grid today. The company said it is on track to invest more than $9 billion in new renewable energy by 2029 and more than quadruple its carbon-free energy in the next five years.
Sonoda emphasized along with rate hikes increasing utility costs for customers, We Energies continues to disregard climate and health concerns. Earlier this year, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin approved We Energies’ proposal to spend $1.5 billion to build two new gas power plants to meet the energy demand for growing data centers.
"Which is really disappointing because they have been continuing to propose more and more fossil fuel projects while delaying the retirement of really, really old coal plants," Sonoda emphasized. "Oak Creek is decades old and is, and has caused a lot of damage."
Sonoda noted current challenges posed by the Trump administration, which has not supported the clean energy transition. She stressed along with stronger state and federal regulations centered on protecting people and the environment, regulatory agencies need to stop "rubber-stamping" projects instead of prioritizing communities.
"The report can help us focus on the fact that the utilities are the bad actors here," Sonoda argued. "We Energies and others need to get their act together and actually protect the communities that they're serving … really drilling down into the practicalities of what actually needs to change rather than the words that we should be hearing."
