{"id":1313696,"date":"2026-01-30T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/?p=1313696"},"modified":"2026-01-29T13:50:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T19:50:32","slug":"wisconsin-data-centers-ai-energy-electricity-power-utility-pay-regulators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/01\/wisconsin-data-centers-ai-energy-electricity-power-utility-pay-regulators\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin debates how to pay for the power-hungry AI boom","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/b><\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

How much should data centers pay for the massive amounts of new power infrastructure they require? Wisconsin\u2019s largest utility, We Energies, has offered its answer to that question in what is the first major proposal before state regulators on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the proposal, currently open for public comment, data centers would pay most or all of the price to construct new power plants or renewables needed to serve them, and the utility says the benefits that other customers receive would outweigh any costs they shoulder for building and running this new generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But environmental and consumer advocates fear the utility\u2019s plan will actually saddle customers with payments for generation, including polluting natural gas plants, that wouldn\u2019t otherwise be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

States nationwide face similar dilemmas around data centers\u2019 energy use. But who pays for the new power plants and transmission is an especially controversial question in Wisconsin and other \u200b\u201cvertically integrated\u201d energy markets, where utilities charge their customers for the investments they make in such infrastructure \u2014 with a profit, called \u200b\u201crate of return,\u201d baked in. In states with competitive energy markets, like Illinois, by contrast, utilities buy power on the open market and don\u2019t make a rate of return on building generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although six big data center projects<\/a> are underway in Wisconsin, the state has no laws governing how the computing facilities get their power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n