Power to the People MKE

A Campaign Calling on the City of Milwaukee to Replace We Energies with a Municipally Owned and Operated Utility

We’re sick of high energy bills, service outages, and We Energies private shareholders profiting off the backs of workers, communities, and families of Milwaukee. It’s time to take back control of our energy

It’s time for public ownership of public utilities in Milwaukee!

Currently in Wisconsin, 11% of the electricity distributed in the state is generated by 81 publicly owned utilities. Communities with publicly owned utilities in the state include Manitowoc, Jefferson, Wisconsin Rapids, Sun Prairie, Stoughton, Sheboygan, and Cedarburg. Nationally, 1 in 7 people are served by public utilities and other large cities like Memphis, Austin, and Los Angeles are served by public power utilities.

Public ownership of our power utility will help us to:

Lower our energy bills:

A recent report found Milwaukee (served by We Energies, a private monopoly) has the most expensive utilities among major U.S. cities. We Energies’ rates per kWh are 30-40% higher than those of Wisconsin public power utilities. By replacing WE Energies with a public power utility in Milwaukee we can eliminate the expensive cost of shareholder profits.

Improve our utility service:

Residents with private utilities in Wisconsin experience double the downtime (133 minutes) compared to those with public utilities (59 minutes) in a typical year. With a public utility, the rates we pay will support reliable service, not shareholder profits.

Implement public decision-making to fight climate change:

A strong majority (65%) of Wisconsin residents support the state increasing its use of renewable energy sources. However, We Energies, a private monopoly governed by a profit motive, has little incentive to make necessary investments in transitioning to renewable energy. Renewables currently account for under 6% of We Energies’ power mix, and their modest goal to be carbon neutral by 2050 falls short of what’s needed to limit the effects of climate change. A utility governed by the people – not corporations – will allow us to create sustainable, family-supporting jobs that promote a cleaner environment

The challenges we face of economic hardship and the accelerating impacts of climate change demand bold action, and the people of Milwaukee deserve better than We Energies. An existing Wisconsin law grants Milwaukee the ability to replace We Energies with an electric utility owned and publicly-controlled by all of us, the people of Milwaukee. This kind of change could lower our monthly bills, improve our service reliability, and enhance our collective ability to fight climate change.

The Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and their allies are calling for public ownership of public utilities. Join us in demanding that the City of Milwaukee use Chapter 197 of the Wisconsin State Statues to replace We Energies with a municipal or cooperative utility.