The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
In the coming weeks, Wisconsin lawmakers may vote to make electric bills needlessly more expensive. It’s a billion-dollar bill for utilities that has had a lot of attention on conservative talk radio, but little mention so far in the mainstream media.
At issue are Assembly Bill 25 and Senate Bill 28, the so-called transmission “Right of First Refusal” or “ROFR” legislation. Under ROFR laws, the competitive bidding process for the development of large new transmission projects approved by the regional grid operator (Midcontinent Independent System Operator or MISO) would effectively be eliminated.
Our state’s utilities and their 70+ lobbyists are lobbying extremely hard to pass a ROFR law as soon as possible. Why? Because there are currently two exceptionally large transmission lines, at a combined cost of $1.8 billion, that are now out for competitive bids. Investor-owned utilities want to legislatively box out any threat of competition right now and for the future rounds of multi-billion-dollar transmission projects.
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In 2003, I was asked to run for the Assembly in a special election. I had the privilege of an appointment to the Assembly Energy & Utilities Committee for ten years, including serving as the Chairman. I always tried to find common ground between manufacturing, the energy companies and the hard-working people across Wisconsin that rely on this essential service.
During my time in the Assembly, Wisconsin had among the lowest electricity rates in the nation. Now, after two decades of relatively high rates, policymakers must ask how they can help reduce this burden on all ratepayers, not increase it.
MISO is expected to approve up to $100 billion of transmission projects in the next several years. Wisconsin has historically had around a 13% cost share of these regional projects. Removing competition from the selection process would add millions, if not billions, in unnecessary additional costs passed through to our households and Wisconsin businesses.
Rising energy costs hurt Wisconsin’s efforts to attract new employers and new workers to Wisconsin. Energy is a major cost of doing business, particularly in a manufacturing-intense economy such as Wisconsin. Unfortunately, our PSC has just approved close to $550 million in higher electric and natural gas rates.
Constituents need to keep holding their legislators’ feet to the fire, because otherwise good, solid, conservative state lawmakers may ultimately cave to the intense political pressure of leadership and the army of utility monopoly lobbyists. In a time of high inflation and ever-increasing electricity rates, awarding no bid contracts to utilities is not good for consumers or for the electric system.
Electricity is often one of the top costs of doing business, and I urge my Republican friends and former colleagues to reject this attempt to expand existing monopolies and stifle competition for these new projects. Wisconsin needs to strike a better balance between the hard-working energy consumers and utility shareholders. Let’s do the right thing and scrap the ROFR bill.
– Mark Honadel is a retired member of the Wisconsin Assembly, representing the 21st AD from 2003 to 2013. He is former chairman of Assembly Energy & Utilities Committee.
