Saturday, September 12, 2026
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Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Microsoft raises consumer concerns over data center power line plan
Francesca Pica
An unlikely ally joined consumer advocates in raising concerns about a plan to shield Wisconsin energy customers from transmission costs related to Mount Pleasant's data center campus.
Microsoft disputed American Transmission Co. and We Energies’ proposal to bill the tech company over $600 million for new power lines and substations serving its Mount Pleasant data center campus – saying it doesn’t go far enough to protect existing customers' electric bills.
ATC is planning more than $2 billion in new high-voltage power lines, substations and facility upgrades to deliver power to large data centers. ATC charges these costs to utilities like We Energies, which then pass them along to their customers through energy bills.
Under ATC’s proposal submitted to federal regulators in July, We Energies would pay the total cost of transmission capacity a data center requests “even in the event the end-use data center customer fails to materialize or take 100% of the requested service.” Microsoft must then pay the utility back in full.
But in an Aug. 21 public filing, the tech giant said it was not consulted about the agreement despite being its sole customer.
“As a result, the Agreements predictably contain significant deficiencies — errors, contradictions and inconsistencies — and raise several significant cost-of-service and open access issues that support a Commission finding that the Agreements may not be just and reasonable,” the company wrote.
Furthermore, Microsoft said the agreement “provides no mechanism to prevent [We Energies’] retail customers from paying the costs of the facilities, and large load customers may pay twice.” It emphasized its commitment to President Donald Trump's ratepayer protection pledge, which holds that U.S. households should not be subject to utility price hikes caused by data center development.
Consumer protection group CUB supports Microsoft's position
The Citizens Utility Board echoed Microsoft’s concern in filings submitted the same day. The consumer advocate told federal regulators the agreement lacks clarity about how transmission costs are tracked and assigned to customers.
“The giant customer and the small customer are aligned in raising questions about how these costs are allocated,” said Tom Content, CUB’s executive director. “We can’t tell from this filing if the numbers they used to allocate costs to Microsoft are accurate.”
Content warned that without adequate protections, five million ATC customers in eastern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula could be stuck paying for data centers’ power lines.
ATC told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a statement it's "reviewing Microsoft’s filing and will respond through the established FERC process to demonstrate that existing customers are fully protected by the agreements."
"We remain committed to cost transparency and protection of existing customers while ensuring reliable transmission service," the company said.
Microsoft requested that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meet with parties to resolve the “deficiencies,” or otherwise reject ATC’s plan so it must renegotiate.
Power line company's plan 'premature,' consumer advocate says
ATC says Mount Pleasant’s agreement is the first of many that will directly assign data center-related transmission costs to the tech companies that own them. Additional projects in the utility's service area include Vantage Data Centers’ $15 billion campus in Port Washington and a data center in Beaver Dam owned by Meta.
But Content said individual contracts with tech companies are the wrong approach.
“They’re proposing one thing for Microsoft, and there’ll be another agreement in Port Washington and another for Beaver Dam,” he said. “You should have a consistent framework” that applies the same standards to all projects, similar to the rate structure approved for We Energies in April.
ATC told the Journal Sentinel in July that individual project agreements are in line with its past filings as well as data center plans from transmission owners in other states. The rules for wholesale utility companies like ATC are different, the company added.
“Our agreements are going to be very similar among all of our customers,” said Ellen Nowak, ATC vice president of regulatory and government affairs. “It's just going to be different inputs, and we have to treat all of our customers similarly and equally.”
Content also called ATC’s filing “premature,” since FERC expected to set more robust frameworks for transmission cost allocation later this year.
In June, the agency ordered regional grid operators to show how data center-related costs are tracked and shielded from ratepayers. Wisconsin’s grid operator has until Nov. 16 to respond – and potentially scramble ATC's plan.
The Public Service Commission, Wisconsin's utility regulator, also said in public comments that while an improvement over the status quo, ATC's plan fails to fully address FERC's concerns.
“Additional work is needed to achieve just and reasonable transmission rates,” the utility regulator said.
ATC said the agreement offers “the protections that the Commission is seeking in a fair, just, and reasonable manner.”
Francesca Pica can be reached at fpica@usatodayco.com.
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Saturday, August 15, 2026
Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Mt. Pleasant creates project review committee for TID housing Microsoft data centers
Holly Gilvary
MOUNT PLEASANT — Village trustees on Monday approved the creation of a Project Review Committee for Tax Incremental District No. 5, which houses Microsoft's data center campus.
Committee members will review proposed projects or expenditures, evaluate whether they are consistent with the TID's project plan and can be shown to benefit the TID (as required under state statute) and, where applicable, forward a recommendation about action to the Village Board.
The committee will be comprised of the TID No. 5 project manager, the deputy administrator, the Racine County Economic Development Corporation executive director, the Mount Pleasant community development director and one at-large member nominated by the village president and confirmed by the Village Board.The at-large member must have "significant professional economic development experience in the region" and will serve an indefinite term, until resignation or removal by the Village Board, according to village documents.
The at-large member must have "significant professional economic development experience in the region" and will serve an indefinite term, until resignation or removal by the Village Board, according to village documents.
TID No. 5 was created in November 2017 for the Foxconn project and includes about 3,900 acres of Business Park-zoned land along the Interstate 94 corridor.
In other business, the board:
- Approved the village's financials for the second quarter of 2026.
- Approved the job description for the Mount Pleasant Department of Public Works Superintendent.
- Approved a change of agent license application for Kwik Trip at 7155 Durand Ave.
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
We Energies starts new renewable energy plants to serve data centers
Francesca Pica
Developers have broken ground on three major We Energies projects as power demand from artificial intelligence data centers grows.
We Energies announced Aug. 4 that construction began for three clean energy projects that combined can power around 100,000 homes. They include a $443 million solar and battery project in Rock County, $355 million wind farm in Iowa and Grant counties, and $106 million battery storage facility in Walworth County.
About half of each facility’s capacity will serve the $15 billion Port Washington data center project run by Vantage Data Centers, Oracle and OpenAI. Under the terms of We Energies’ new data center electric rate, the tech companies must cover an equivalent portion of construction costs.
Chicago-based developer Invenergy will build the power plants before selling them to three utility companies. We Energies will own a majority of each facility, with the rest split between Madison Gas and Electric and the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation.
All three projects were approved by the state Public Service Commission. They will create around 450 construction jobs, We Energies says.
The facilities come as statewide energy demand is expected to rise 40% by 2032. Large data centers like the Port Washington and Mount Pleasant campuses are responsible for most of the increase, according to estimates from state regulators.
In response, We Energies parent company WEC Energy Group is eyeing $20 billion in new energy investments over the next few years. We Energies has designated several other new solar, wind and natural gas projects as resources for data centers, some of which are still waiting approval.
“These renewable energy projects are part of our strategy to strengthen reliability through a balanced mix of Wisconsin-based energy sources, including renewables and state-of-the-art natural gas plants,” We Energies President Mike Hooper said in a statement Aug. 4.
The proposed natural gas-fired plants include a 1.1-gigawatt facility in Kenosha County and a 342-megawatt project in Walworth County, both built by Invenergy. They total $2.3 billion and are pending PSC approval.
Residents and environmental advocates voiced opposition to the plants at public hearings in July, saying they serve a few tech giants at the expense of public health.
We Energies says it has more than three gigawatts of solar and wind projects and 600 megawatts of battery storage in service, under construction or pending PSC approval.
Francesca Pica can be reached at fpica@usatodayco.com
Friday, July 31, 2026
Voters bring data center, AI concerns to Wisconsin governor candidates
Francesca PicaClaudia LevensJaeha JangIsabella Russomanno Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
For a growing number of Wisconsin residents, the data center debate is personal. And that’s what they told candidates for governor face-to-face in Milwaukee July 29.
The five Democratic candidates for governor met at Turner Hall to discuss data centers and artificial intelligence at a town hall hosted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Presumptive Republican nominee Tom Tiffany was invited but declined to attend.
The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 11.
Following a debate hosted by Journal Sentinel political reporter Jessie Opoien, the candidates heard questions about data center policy and other matters directly from attendees during informal discussions.
Here’s what audience members wanted to know:
Should Wisconsin pause new data center development?
Allison Mally, 22, lives in a small village near Wisconsin Rapids, where a data center proposal surfaced in the spring. Those plans are on hold after the city passed stricter permitting requirements in May.
Meanwhile, some area residents are calling for a moratorium on new data center development – including Mally.
“The Wisconsin River is one of the most important lifebloods in the area because we have the cranberry industry just to the south of us,” Mally said. “Not to mention the possibility of rates going up with the utility and electric bills.”
Mally asked Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who opposes a statewide data center moratorium, what he thought about Wisconsin Rapids’ proposal. Crowley said the decision to pause data center development should rest with local municipalities, who can better weigh the risks and benefits of such projects for their residents.
If a local community doesn't want a data center and implements a moratorium, "that's perfect," Crowley said.
Mally still favors a statewide pause proposed by state Rep. Francesca Hong, the front runner.
Aryana Khan, 20, also made the three-hour trip from Wisconsin Rapids with her friend Cloey Hilliker, 23.
Khan has seen the local fervor around data center concerns in her own community. Around 500 people had attended a local town hall event on the proposal in the city, which took place in April days before the city voted on permitting requirements. Khan had volunteered at the event.
How should Wisconsin regulate AI use?
But when Khan approached state Sen. Kelda Roys' table on July 29, she wanted to know her perspective on the use and regulation of AI tools, which data centers serve as the physical infrastructure for.
Khan asked for Roys' thoughts on the “surge in Flock cameras” and other AI surveillance technology that gathers data about peoples’ likenesses.
Roys said surveillance data usage and privacy issues are critical to her campaign, one she wished the candidates had spoken more about during the panel.
Roys said her policy platform includes ways to regulate big tech companies and address everything from bots raising the prices of concert tickets to addictive social media platforms targeting kids to the weaponization of drones to protecting privacy from Flock cameras.
“I didn’t know much about (Roys) before I came here today. But by the end of it, it’s between her and Francesca,” Khan said.
“I think Kelda is focusing on broad legislative and executive actions around data centers. She has her mind on many different aspects. Whereas Francesca laser focused on a moratorium first and foremost.”
Hilliker asked former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes about what he’d do to address the negative mental health impacts of AI chatbots, dubbed “AI psychosis.” She also wanted to know how he’d regulate AI use to protect workers vulnerable from large-scale layoffs.
Barnes told them he’d work with state agencies to create rules about AI use that best fit the needs of different industries from health care to agriculture. He also said federal lawmakers have failed to properly address big tech’s negative mental health impacts for years.
Hilliker appreciated Barnes’ willingness to address AI from a public mental health perspective. But she's still leaning toward Hong, who she says is better able to motivate underrepresented and previously disengaged voters.
“I think we’re looking for more of a fight,” she said.
Barnes ended his campaign for governor July 30.
How should Wisconsin manage its power grid?
Logan Owens, 19, works in computing for Northwestern Mutual. He's noticed the increased attention to his field.
“It's kind of odd to watch my job become a core issue in the governor's race,” he said.
Owens wanted to test candidates’ knowledge of the power grid, including how they feel about permitting for new power plants and high-voltage transmission lines. Many of these projects are being built to service large data centers, and Owens worries they could lead to higher electric bills.
Owens said some candidates dodged the more technical aspects of utility-related questions, though he was impressed by Dept. of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan’s grasp of power grid issues. For now, he’s undecided but also likes Hong and Crowley.
“Talking to these people directly and getting to ask my kind of silly, very hyper-specific questions, I don't always expect the greatest answer, but it's just the opportunity to ask that really has value to me,” he said.
Owens said the ability to speak one-on-one with candidates allows him to see what they have to offer beyond canned soundbytes.
“Ultimately, you either see them in attack ads, you see them in ads, or you see them repeating the same slogans,” he said. “And I think it's nice to be able to throw my question in and say, hey, what do you think about high-voltage power lines?”
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Sunday, July 26, 2026
Friday, July 24, 2026
Will residential customers be forced to pay for data center power lines?
Francesca Pica
As more Wisconsin utilities look to hold hyperscale data centers financially responsible for new power plants, regulators are still left to decide a key question: who's paying for the power lines?
On July 16, American Transmission Co. filed plans to shield residents from costs related to Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar data center campus on the former Foxconn site in Mount Pleasant. The power line company serves more than five million customers in eastern Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and parts of Minnesota and Illinois.
It’s the first in a string of plans to directly assign data center-related transmission costs to the tech companies that own them, according to ATC. These include Vantage Data Centers’ $15 billion project in Port Washington and a data center in Beaver Dam owned by Facebook parent Meta.
ATC is planning more than $2 billion in new high-voltage power lines, substations and facility upgrades to help serve large data centers – an unprecedented build-out for the company. ATC charges these costs to utilities like We Energies, who send them to their customers through energy bills.
We Energies will pay the total cost of transmission capacity a data center requests “even in the event the end-use data center customer fails to materialize or take 100% of the requested service,” according to the proposal. Microsoft must then pay the utility back in full.
“It’s a little bit like a builder. You say, ‘I want a four-bedroom house,’ and it's like, ‘well, I'm only going to use three of them for a while and I don’t want to pay for one quarter,’” said Ellen Nowak, ATC vice president of regulatory and government affairs.
“You asked us to build a four-bedroom house – you’re getting a four-bedroom house and you’re going to pay for the whole house.”
A Microsoft spokesperson told the Journal Sentinel the tech company “remains committed to paying the costs our data center operations require while protecting other ratepayers.”
Regulators previously approved separate electric rate for data centers
In April, the state Public Service Commission modified and approved a separate electric rate for data centers in We Energies’ service area, including the Mount Pleasant project. It’s intended to ensure data centers pay for billions of dollars in new infrastructure needed to serve them.
But unlike new power plants, transmission projects built by ATC are not covered by the data center rate. Commissioners warned that if these costs are not accounted for, they could end up on residents’ energy bills.
We Energies said in April it was working with ATC on a plan to address transmission costs.
Consumer advocates have warned about the cost of the transmission lines throughout the process. They include the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin, which represents residents in utility cases.
“Without the large and loud engagement on this topic, I doubt we would have seen the movement we have from the applicant and ATC to evaluate creative solutions to this issue,” Commissioner Marcus Hawkins said in April.
CUB executive director Tom Content said the group will review ATC’s proposal “with an eye toward shielding data center-linked costs from the power bills paid by the residential and small business customers we represent.”
“This proposal goes to the heart of a key issue for CUB, ensuring customers aren’t left holding the bag for billions of costs for new power lines ATC has asked to build to serve them,” Content said. “We had expressed concern in the data center tariff case about how transmission costs were to be allocated and the PSC responded by revamping the original We Energies proposal.”
More data center plans coming, power line company says
ATC says plans for the Port Washington and Beaver Dam data centers will be filed separately.
Meanwhile, the Public Service Commission is ordering retail utilities create a uniform electric rate for all their large data center customers. Commissioners say this will increase transparency and ensure fairness in future projects.
But ATC says agreements for individual projects are in line with its past filings as well as data center plans enacted by transmission owners in other states. The rules for wholesalers like ATC are different, the company added.
“That’s not atypical for us,” Nowak said. “Our agreements are going to be very similar among all of our customers. It's just going to be different inputs, and we have to treat all of our customers similarly and equally.”
In March, Meta, Oracle, Microsoft and other tech giants signed a White House agreement promising to cover all costs associated with their data center build-outs. The Trump administration expanded the nonbinding pledge in July as it seeks to promote AI development.
Meanwhile, data centers are facing growing public backlash. Marquette University Law School's July poll found that three quarters of Wisconsin voters viewed data centers unfavorably, up from 55% in October.
CUB will be watching for future agreements for the other data center campuses, Content said.
“It's critical to ensure data center developers are paying their full share for the costs needed to serve them, including ‘network upgrades’ that tech companies committed to funding when they signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge this spring at the White House,” he said.
Cost recovery rules add urgency
Retail utilities like We Energies cannot pass along the cost of a new power plant until it comes online, years after initial approval. But a regulatory exception allows ATC to charge customers for projects that are still under construction.
The new transmission projects for Microsoft’s campus have already been approved by state regulators, totaling $625 million. Two more substations initially built for Foxconn will serve the project and be covered by ATC’s July 16 plan.
A $1.5 billion high-voltage power line for the Port Washington data center is also pending commission approval.
The cost recovery rule means customer protections must be put in place soon, before new projects make their way into electric rates, consumer advocates warn.
We Energies earmarked $620 million in transmission charges for data centers in 2027 and 2028, according to its energy rate plan. State regulators will likely vote on approval of the plan by the end of 2026.
Both the state Public Service Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must sign off on ATC's plan. It has been sent to the regional grid operator for review, the company says. It’s expected to come before federal regulators by early August.
Once it’s filed, the federal agency will have 60 days to respond.
Francesca Pica can be reached at fpica@usatodayco.com.
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