A unanimous vote the day after regulators acted
Milwaukee's Common Council backed borrowing as much as $1.35 million for a feasibility study examining a city takeover of We Energies, with all 15 members present voting in favor on Friday, Nov. 6. The decision came one day after Wisconsin regulators granted the utility its sixth rate increase in six years. The proposal still requires the mayor's signature, and Mayor Cavalier Johnson retains a partial veto that could remove it from the 2027 budget.[S1][S2][S3][S4]
Alderman Alex Brower, who sponsored the legislation, framed the tally as leverage over the company. He argued that approval would signal the city is weighing whether the utility's tenure in Milwaukee is nearing its end, and that rejection would have told We Energies its position was secure and that it could set prices as it wished. The local Democratic Socialist of America chapter has pressed the takeover question for years, and Brower, a Democratic Socialist alderman, won every colleague over to the study on Friday.[S1]
Alderman Russell Stamper voiced anger at the latest increase, saying he read the decision as either indifference toward residents or a provocation, and that he found the treatment disrespectful either way. The proposal had earlier stalled in committee, where it drew two votes in favor, two against and one abstention before reaching the full council.[S1]
Utility says it was not consulted
We Energies spokesman Brendan Conway said the company had no part in the discussions that produced the proposal, and that it would have welcomed a chance to speak with city officials before the vote, which he said would have benefited everyone, including Milwaukee taxpayers now poised to spend about $1.3 million on the study. He pointed to other municipalities that have weighed acquiring their power provider, saying each spent hundreds of thousands of dollars only to conclude a takeover would likely run into the billions and then face rejection at the ballot.[S1]
He cited Ann Arbor, Michigan, where voters this week turned down a proposal to create a municipal power company. Conway also defended the rate increase, saying the revenue supports new solar and wind projects, infrastructure work and rising operating expenses, and that the company's increases since 2020 have stayed level with inflation even as it contends with heavily inflationary inputs. We Energies estimates a typical household's electric bill will rise by roughly $7 to $8 a month in 2027 and by another $6 to $7 a month in 2028.[S1]
The utility said in a statement that its typical customer bills sit below the national average and match those of customers elsewhere in the Midwest, and that this will hold in the years ahead.[S1]
What would have to happen before a takeover
Friday's vote does not settle the matter. If the funding survives the mayor's veto pen and lands in the city's final budget, Milwaukee would issue a request for proposals for the feasibility study, and a footnote calls for a task force to help shape what that request contains. State law then requires voter approval in a referendum before a municipality could take over a utility plant, after which the city would have to bring the question to court for a jury or judge to determine whether a takeover is necessary.[S1]
