News

For the second consecutive year, VETS Indexes has recognized Alliant Energy as a 3 Star Employer. The award recognizes the organization’s commitment to recruiting, hiring, retaining, developing and supporting veterans and the military-connected community.

“The diligent efforts of Alliant Energy to hire, retain and support veterans and the military-connected community have earned the organization a highly coveted VETS Indexes Employer Award,” said George Altman, president of VETS Indexes. “Even with hundreds of employers in the running, Alliant Energy demonstrated a strong dedication to veteran employment. Congratulations to Alliant Energy on this achievement!” 

Alliant Energy works proactively to match veteran candidates with available career opportunities and supports the personal and professional development of veterans through an employee-driven Veterans Alliance resource group. Additionally, veterans in the craft trades have benefited from the thousands of local construction jobs and new training opportunities spurred by the company’s recent energy investments. 

“It’s an honor to be recognized as a 3 Star Employer by VETS Indexes,” said Diane Cooke, vice president and chief human resource officer at Alliant Energy. “The unique skills, training and dedication veterans bring to our team helps us deliver the energy solutions and exceptional service customers and communities count on – safely, efficiently and responsibly. We’re proud to support our veterans and deliver on our purpose-driven strategy to serve customers and build stronger communities.”

Alliant Energy is aware of and has reviewed the recently published 2023 IQAir report, in which Beloit, Wisconsin, is identified as the most polluted city in the U.S. Recent media coverage of the report inaccurately states that Alliant Energy’s Riverside and West Riverside Energy Center plays a significant impact in the air quality of Beloit, Wisconsin. The media reports are simply not fact. Many factors impact air quality – and, in the summer of 2023, Canadian wildfires significantly impacted air quality across the Midwest and much of the nation, as stated by the 2023 IQAir report, but omitted from most of the media coverage.  

Alliant Energy is committed to complying with all environmental requirements and operates its assets in a manner that is protective of the air quality standards established by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and approved operational permits. In fact, prior to its construction, Alliant Energy’s West Riverside facility was required to, and did obtain, air pollution control permits to construct and operate the facility in accordance with the federal and state requirements.  Alliant Energy supports transparency and reports its compliance status with these requirements to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) semi-annually.   

In contrast to the stringent guidelines set in place by the EPA and WDNR, the 2023 IQAir report is created by third-party public monitors for which quality assurance is limited, nor is oversight provided by state or federal regulators. Alliant Energy has a long and positive partnership with the City of Beloit. Prior to the Energy Center’s construction, several listening sessions and open houses were conducted in the surrounding community to enhance engagement and awareness of the plant’s features and impacts. 

The generating station was designed to be efficient and flexible to compliment significant renewable energy resources and, with sustainability in mind to promote community, environmental and economic benefits. It has received several awards and recognitions including an Envision Platinum award from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure– the highest attainable Envision recognition level.  

Xcel Energy’s Wisconsin and Michigan operating company, Northern States Power-Wisconsin, is commemorating 100 years of service to the communities it serves and reaffirming its dedication to powering customers’ homes and businesses while leading the clean energy transition.

The company’s journey began when Northern States Power Company of Minnesota purchased the Wisconsin-Minnesota Light and Power Company which had recently completed construction of the Wissota Hydroelectric Project. The newly acquired company, with headquarters that moved from La Crosse to Eau Claire, was renamed Northern States Power-Wisconsin on April 7, 1924.  

“Over the last century, our company has worked with our customers and communities through challenges like the Great Depression, World War II, the “Big Wind” of 1980, numerous natural disasters, recessions and the pandemic – to name a few,” according to Karl Hoesly, President, NSP-Wisconsin. “It hasn’t always been easy, but our ability to adapt, evolve and thrive while staying true to our core values is a point of immense pride.”  

Throughout its history, the company expanded by offering natural gas service and through acquisitions and mergers to include customers in northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, further strengthening its reach.

Since 2000, the company has been known as Xcel Energy, and today serves 250,000 electricity and 114,000 natural gas customers in northwestern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It is one of four operating companies under the Xcel Energy family that serves 3.7 million of electricity and 2.1 million natural gas customers across eight Midwestern and Western states.

In 2018, Xcel Energy was the first utility in the nation to set a bold vision to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2030 and provide customers with 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050. With a steadfast commitment to providing reliable and affordable energy service, Xcel Energy and its employees champion economic development, charitable giving and volunteerism throughout the communities it serves.

“We are incredibly thankful for the strong relationships and support from the more than 500 communities we serve,” said Hoesly. “We find value in connecting with and managing the energy needs of our customers and communities, towns, and working side-by side to help our Wisconsin and Michigan communities prosper – we look forward to doing that for another 100 years.

A solar farm in the Town of Saratoga has installed six new houses for some neighbors to move in, but they’re for birds, not humans.

Goose is an American Kestrel. It’s a species of falcon often confused for mourning doves. Goose, along with Central Wisconsin Kestrel Research, has been working with Alliant Energy to install nesting boxes for kestrels at the Wood County Solar Project in the Town of Saratoga.

“They are cavity nesters and if you put up a cavity for them to nest in, they will use it if the habitat is suitable,” said Amber Eschenbauch, cofounder of the Central Wisconsin Kestrel Research Program.

Six new bird boxes were put in with help from Nekoosa eighth-grade tech ed students who have been working on the project for a year.

The US Department of Justice has sided with a Native American tribe in claiming a massive underground pipeline carrying fuel from Wisconsin to Canada is trespassing on tribal lands.

In an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, DOJ lawyers agreed with the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians in arguing that Enbridge Energy Company, is "liable for trespass" due to its operation of Line 5, a pipeline that moves millions of gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids each day between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario,

Roughly 12 miles of Line 5 cross into the Reservation of the Bad River Band in northern Wisconsin, and the pipeline was constructed along "rights-of-way" obtained by the Department of Interior in the 1950s and renewed multiple times over the following decades. Enbridge’s rights-of-way for 12 parcels of land that are at the center of the lawsuit expired in 2013, and the tribe did not consent to their renewal. After the tribe sued in 2019, the Department of Interior denied the energy company’s request for renewal in 2020.

Wisconsin’s Energies and WPS are requesting about $800 million in rate increases over the next two years. The companies have filed applications with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to increase electric and gas rates in 2025 and 2026. We Energies has increased electric rates each year since 2019, following four years when rates fell slightly. We Energies’ says electric rates went up by 9.2 percent in 2023 and 2.3 percent this year.

We Energies hopes to increase electric rates by 6.9 percent in 2025 and 4.6 percent in 2026.  It has also requested increases for both of the gas utilities it owns. One of the gas utilities would increase rates by ten percent next year and 5.1 percent by 2026. The other asked to increase rates by 8.2 percent in 2025 and 3.6 percent in 2026. We Energies’ steam utility in downtown Milwaukee also asked for an 8.4 percent rate hike in 2025, but no increase in 2026.

Wisconsin Public Service is requesting an 8.5 percent electric rate increase in 2025 and a 4.9 percent increase in 2026. WPS also requested gas rate increases of 6.8 percent next year and 3.9 percent in 2026.

If approved, a typical residential We Energies customer’s electric bills could rise between $10 and $11 per month in 2025 and between $7 and $8 in 2026, the utility estimates. A typical residential WPS customer’s electric bill could rise by between $10 and $12 a month next year and between $5 and $6 the following year.

ALLIANT RELEASES EARNINGS

Alliant Energy has announced first-quarter earnings that aligned closely with analyst expectations. The company reported a GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of $0.62, consistent with the estimated earnings per share of $0.62. This performance reflects a slight decrease from the previous year's EPS of $0.65. Alliant Energy, the parent company of Interstate Power and Light and Wisconsin Power and Light, serves nearly 1 million electric customers and 425,000 natural gas customers, while also holding a 16 percent interest in American Transmission Company.

WEC ENERGY GROUP DECLARES QUARTERLY DIVIDEND

The Board of Directors of WEC Energy Group has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 83.50 cents per share on the company's common stock.

The dividend is payable June 1, 2024, to stockholders of record on May 14, 2024. This marks the 327th consecutive quarter — dating back to 1942 — that the company will have paid a dividend to its stockholders.

WEC ENERGY GROUP REPORTS FIRST-QUARTER RESULTS

WEC Energy Group has reported net income of $622.3 million, or $1.97 per share, for the first quarter of 2024 — up from $507.5 million, or $1.61 per share, in last year's first quarter. Consolidated revenues totaled $2.7 billion, down $207.9 million from the first quarter a year ago.

"Throughout the warmest winter in Wisconsin history, we remained laser focused on financial discipline, operating efficiency, and customer satisfaction," according to Gale Klappa, Executive Chairman. "And we're confident that we can deliver another year of strong results — in line with our guidance for 2024."

For the quarter, natural gas deliveries in Wisconsin — excluding natural gas used for power generation — fell by 5.8 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023. Retail deliveries of electricity — excluding the iron ore mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula — were down by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the first quarter last year. Electricity consumption by small commercial and industrial customers rose by 0.7 percent. Electricity use by large commercial and industrial customers — excluding the iron ore mine — declined by 0.7 percent. 

XCEL ENERGY FIRST QUARTER 2024 EARNINGS REPORT

Xcel Energy has reported 2024 first quarter GAAP and ongoing earnings of $488 million, or $0.88 per share, compared with $418 million, or $0.76 per share in the same period in 2023. First quarter GAAP and ongoing diluted earnings per share were $0.88 in 2024 compared with $0.76 in 2023.

Xcel Energy reaffirms 2024 EPS guidance of $3.50 to $3.60 per share First quarter ongoing earnings results reflect increased recovery of infrastructure investments and lower O&M expenses, partially offset by increased interest charges and depreciation. 

We Energies expects to have a new $1.2 billion natural-gas powered generating plant online in Oak Creek in about four years. The utility has filed proposals with state regulators to build the 1,100-megawatt plant, a smaller natural-gas generating facility near its Paris solar farm and 33 miles of gas pipelines to supply the new installations and a previously proposed liquefied natural gas storage facility in Oak Creek.

In all, the proposals outline about $1.8 billion in spending, all of which requires approval from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

According to filings with the PSC, the spending includes $1.2 billion to build a new natural-gas generating plant on land south of Milwaukee that today includes the Oak Creek Power Plant and Elm Road Generating station. The plant would consist of five, 220 megawatt General Electric turbines, giving it about the same capacity as the Oak Creek plant, a coal-burning plant that We Energies will begin retiring this year. The company expects the plant to be complete in late 2027 or early 2028.

It will spend $280 million to install seven 18.8 megawatt reciprocating internal combustion engines near the company's Paris Solar Farm in Kenosha County. The 128 megawatt installation is expected to be complete in 2026.

$180 million will be spent to build 33 miles of gas pipeline connecting the Oak Creek and Paris installations to existing natural gas infrastructure.

About $200 million will be used to build a liquefied natural gas storage system on the site to ensure an adequate fuel supply for the new generating plant, natural gas customers, and the eventual conversion of the Elm Road Generating Station.

We Energies expects to spend about $335 million to build electric distribution infrastructure to serve Microsoft's data center development in Mount Pleasant. A recent filing with the state Public Service Commission seeks to defer accounting for the costs until the project is complete. We Energies in the application said it needs to begin construction by June to meet Microsoft's needs.

Data centers are massive users of electricity that run around the clock to support cloud computing and other data-intensive applications. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, data centers consume up to fifty times the energy of a similarly sized-office space and account for about two percent of all electricity use in the U.S.

The PSC application identifies three work areas with the most immediate spending, about $50 million, focused on the area where Microsoft's $1 billion first phase of construction is already underway. Microsoft bought that 315-acre property in May, 2023, and began site work on the first of two buildings in July. A February 27th construction update states foundation work is nearly complete and said work has begun on the building's steel structure. We Energies will soon begin work on a distribution substation on the western part of the parcel.

Legislation that would have allowed Wisconsin utility companies to continue building new power lines in Wisconsin, passed the Assembly but failed to get Senate approval before the end of the session.

The legislation would have given owners of transmission lines in the state the right of first refusal to build new lines that connect to their existing infrastructure. It came after the Midwest grid operator approved $10 billion in work on new transmission lines over the next decade, with about $2 billion in Wisconsin.

The bill would have boosted the reliability of Wisconsin’s electrical grid and preserved the authority of the state’s Public Service Commission to decide who can own and operate the infrastructure rather than ceding control to out-of-state regulators. It would also have allowed Wisconsin utilities and their shareholders to enjoy the economic benefits associated with building and operating transmission infrastructure.

Groups supporting the bill include multiple utilities, Wisconsin Utility Investors, labor unions and local economic development organizations. Also lobbying for the bill was American Transmission Co., or ATC, which owns and operates much of Wisconsin’s transmission line system. Those opposed to the bill included consumer advocacy groups, like AARP and the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin, as well as Clean Wisconsin and several other conservative groups.