Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 196 - Regulation of public utilities.
196.20 - Rules on service; changes in rates.

196.20 Rules on service; changes in rates.
(1) The rate schedules of any public utility shall include all rules applicable to the rendition or discontinuance of the service to which the rates specified in the schedules are applicable. No change may be made by any public utility in its schedules except by filing the change as proposed with the commission. No change in any public utility rule which purports to curtail the obligation or undertaking of service of the public utility shall be effective without the written approval of the commission after hearing, except that the commission, by emergency order, may make the rule, as filed, effective from the date of the order, pending final approval of the rule after hearing.
(2)
(a) A proposed change which constitutes a decrease in rates shall be effective at the time specified in the change as filed but not earlier than 10 days after the date of filing the change with the commission, unless any of the following occurs:
1. During the 10-day period the commission, either upon complaint or upon its own motion, by order, suspends the operation of the proposed change.
2. The commission, upon application of any public utility, directs that a proposed reduction in rates be made effective less than 10 days after filing the proposed reduction.
(b)
1. A suspension under par. (a) 1. shall be effective for a period not exceeding 4 months, during which period the commission shall investigate any matter relative to the reasonableness or lawfulness of any change in schedule as filed. After the investigation the commission, by order, shall approve or disapprove the change, except as provided under subd. 2. The commission shall give the public utility proposing the change an opportunity for hearing prior to issuing any order disapproving a change. If the commission disapproves the change, the change shall be ineffective.
2. If the commission orders a suspension under par. (a) 1., the commission, after notice to the public utility of its objections to the change and after giving the public utility an opportunity to be heard on the objections, may prescribe a schedule which, revised on the basis of the objections, the commission finds to be lawful and reasonable instead of disapproving the schedule under subd. 1.
(2m) Except as provided under s. 196.193, no change in schedules which constitutes an increase in rates to consumers may be made except by order of the commission, after an investigation and opportunity for hearing.
(4)
(a) In this subsection:
1. “Automatic adjustment clause" means a provision included in the rate schedule of an electric public utility after investigation, notice and hearing which permits the electric public utility to recover in rates, without prior hearing and order of the commission, an increase in costs incurred by the electric public utility.
2. “Electric public utility" means a public utility whose purpose is the generation, transmission, delivery or furnishing of electric power but does not include a public utility owned and operated wholly by a municipality or cooperative and does not include any public utility which purchases, under federal or state approved wholesale rates, more than 50 percent of its electric power requirements from other than an affiliated interest as defined under s. 196.52. “Electric public utility" does not include any Class A utility, as defined under s. 199.03 (4), whose electric generation equipment has a total capacity of less than 30 megawatts.
(b) An electric public utility may not recover in rates any increase in cost, including fuel, by means of the operation of an automatic adjustment clause.
(c)
1. If an electric public utility has an approved fuel cost plan, the commission shall defer any under-collection or over-collection of fuel costs that are outside of the utility's symmetrical fuel cost annual tolerance, as established by the commission, for subsequent rate recovery or refund.
2. The commission may commence a proceeding to adjust rates for an electric public utility outside of a general rate case proceeding if the utility's actual fuel costs are outside of the utility's fuel cost annual tolerance, as established by the commission.
3. Approval of a fuel cost plan and any rate adjustment for deferred fuel costs or refund of over-collected fuel costs shall be determined by the commission after opportunity for hearing.
(d) The commission shall promulgate a rule to implement this subsection.
(7)
(a) In this subsection, “mitigation payment" means, as approved by the commission, an unrestricted or recurring monetary payment to a local unit of government in which an electric generating facility is located to mitigate the impact of the electric generating facility on the local unit of government. “Mitigation payment" does not include payments made or in-kind contributions for restricted purposes to directly address health or safety impacts of the electric generating facility on the local unit of government.
(b) Except as provided in par. (c), an electric public utility may not recover in rates any of the following:
1. The cost of mitigation payments paid by the utility.
2. The cost of mitigation payments paid by the owner or operator of an electric generating facility that the owner or operator recovers from the utility by selling electricity to the utility, by leasing the facility to the utility, or by any agreement between the owner or operator of the electric generating facility and the public utility.
(c)
1. Except as provided in subd. 2., the commission shall only approve a mitigation payment agreement that is received by the commission before June 10, 2003, and, if the commission finds the agreement to be reasonable, shall not subsequently modify the agreement.
2. If the commission receives a mitigation payment agreement before June 10, 2003, and does not determine that the agreement is unreasonable before November 11, 2003, mitigation payments in accordance with the terms of the agreement shall be recoverable in rates, notwithstanding any subsequent limitations imposed by the commission on the mitigation payments.
(8)
(a) In this subsection, “financial assistance” has the meaning described in s. 196.372 (2).
(b) The revenue collected from charges applied to a class of customers to fund financial assistance may not exceed an amount equal to the financial assistance received by the class.
(9) The commission shall ensure in rate-making orders that a public utility recovers from its ratepayers reasonable amounts that the public utility spends on pension and other post-employment benefit costs. If requested by the public utility, the commission shall prescribe escrow accounting treatment for the recovery of public utility expenditures related to pension and other post-employment benefit costs.
History: 1981 c. 148; 1983 a. 27, 53, 461, 502; 1985 a. 182 s. 57; 1985 a. 297; 1989 a. 344; 1993 a. 496; 1995 a. 27, 363; 1997 a. 27; 2003 a. 89; 2005 a. 337, 441; 2009 a. 403; 2011 a. 22; 2017 a. 137; 2021 a. 24.
A utility's expanded adjustment clause violated the requirement of public hearings prior to rate increases under sub. (2) [now sub. (2m)]. Wisconsin Environmental Decade, Inc. v. PSC, 81 Wis. 2d 344, 260 N.W.2d 712.
The inclusion of nuclear fuel in an adjustment clause did not violate sub. (2) [now sub. (2m)]. Wisconsin Environmental Decade, Inc. v. PSC, 105 Wis. 2d 457, 313 N.W.2d 863 (Ct. App. 1981).
Sub. (2m) requires a utility to charge only those rates that have been filed with the PSC in conformity with applicable statutes. Filed rates are those rates filed in compliance with applicable statutes, including those under sub. (2m) for changes in schedules that increase rates. CenturyTel of the Midwest-Kendall, Inc. v. PSC, 2002 WI App 236, 257 Wis. 2d 837, 653 N.W.2d 130, 02-0053.

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