WISCONSIN — Sierra Club has released its annual Dirty Truth Report. This year, We Energies’ score has plummeted to 4 out of 100 possible points — its worst score ever and 20 points lower than its first score when the Dirty Truth came out only six years ago. We Energies is spotlighted in a case study within the report. We Energies has earned its abysmal grade from delaying the retirement of the Oak Creek coal plant for the third time and planning to build 1.2 gigawatts of new gas power plant capacity by 2035 — increasing its existing gas capacity by nearly 50 percent.

The surge in new gas largely comes from We Energies trying to incentivize Big Tech to come to Wisconsin to build massive AI data centers, opening the door to more profit at the expense of their ratepayers. This year, We Energies is proposing a 14% increase in utility bills without sufficient clarity on the actions the utility has taken to protect existing customers from costs attributable to data center load.

Over 1,800 public comments were submitted to the PSC, 91 percent of which opposed the rate increase. Of those in opposition, nearly 75 percent cited affordability as a primary concern, and nearly 42 percent called for a decrease to We Energies’ profits and CEO and Board of Directors payments. Other comments cited concerns about data centers, lack of clean energy investment, health concerns, and power shutoffs.

“This report and overwhelming public opposition to We Energies’ latest rate increase crystallize what Wisconsinites have known for years: We Energies’ bottom line has been maximizing executive and shareholder profit at the expense of the people they’re supposed to serve,” said Cassie Steiner, Senior Campaign Coordinator .

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