When will the adjusted rates go into effect?
The adjusted rates go into effect January 1, 2024.
Will my rates go up again the following year?
The PSC approved a two-step adjustment to electric base rates for 2024 and 2025. Natural gas base rates will be adjusted in 2024 and held effectively flat in 2025. Our next rate review will likely be filed in spring 2025 for rate years 2026-2027.
What options do customers have to reduce electric/natural gas bills?
First and foremost, we encourage all customers to consider energy efficiency improvements that can reduce the amount of energy they use. A list of simple, do-it-yourself cost-saving tips can be found online at
alliantenergy.com/waystosave.
Customers, including those with an electric vehicle, might benefit by enrolling in a different rate plan that better matches their energy use, such as our Nights and Weekends or Peak Nights and Weekends programs. To explore rate plan options, use our personalized rate calculator at
alliantenergy.com/nightsandweekends.
Additionally, we offer several programs to help customers reduce their energy use. Our
Smart Hours program is one cost-saving tool available to customers with a smart thermostat. Signing up adds value, convenience and choice to the services we provide. Customers enrolled in Smart Hours receive rewards for participating in the program which reduces energy use at peak times.
To explore options, visit
My Account.
What is Alliant Energy doing to manage energy costs?
To manage costs, we continue to operate our system as efficiently as possible. Our investments in new technology, such as our Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) and Enterprise Work and Asset Management program (EWAM), will further enhance efficiency and system operations.
Another key component of our long-term plan to manage costs involves our focus on developing zero-fuel-cost generation resources and minimizing risks associated with fuel cost volatility. Following our Clean Energy Blueprint, we are retiring older generation facilities and replacing the energy generation with a cleaner and more diversified energy portfolio to help avoid future costs that we would have incurred had we continued ‘business as usual.’
What specific investments are you making to the energy grid? What are the benefits?
We are focused on strengthening our distribution system to protect against threats, boost energy security and support our customers. This includes:
- undergrounding distribution lines, which reduces the frequency and duration of outages, decreases long-term operational costs and improves safety.
- installing an Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS), which will increase our insights into – and enable – a more dynamic and efficient operation of our energy system. With ADMS, our distribution system operators and dispatchers will have greater access to real time data across our service territory. They will be able to work with more intelligent grid devices and guide field crews in restoring service to customers much faster than we can today.
- adding batteries, microgrids, and other value-added resources to improve customer reliability, system resilience and circuit load management.
- bolstering our communication technologies by deploying fiber communication. Of all the changes affecting the industry, this investment is one of the most impactful in order to manage an increasingly complex grid that includes smarter and more distribution-connected devices, such as batteries and electric vehicle chargers. Among other benefits, our fiber communication will increase the robustness and cyber security of our communication system and, in certain areas, replaces aging systems.
Why are you retiring the Edgewater and Columbia coal plants?
Changing energy costs, customer sustainability goals and more advanced energy technologies are driving the transition to cleaner energy, like renewables and natural gas. For decades, coal generation was the best option in terms of cost-effectiveness and reliability. More recently, other energy sources have become more cost-effective. Rather than investing hundreds of millions to maintain older, more expensive generation facilities, it is more cost-effective to invest in cleaner energy sources such as solar and battery energy storage.
Will net metering rates change?
In our 2024-25 rate review, we proposed creating a new advanced net metering tariff called “Power Partnership” to support additional customer investments in clean energy resources while keeping costs down for all. This proposal would have increased the reimbursement rate to customers for energy exported to the grid and reduced barriers to solar access by having Alliant Energy pay for any distribution system upgrades needed to connect customers’ solar to the grid.
Despite support from customers and solar advocacy organizations, the Power Partnership proposal was not adopted by the PSC, and our net metering tariff will not be changing. As a result, customers with distributed generation resources are likely to see a decline in energy bill credits under the existing rate structure as the market prices of electricity have come down from recent highs. The 2023 reimbursement rate for generation under Alliant Energy’s PgS-3 net metering tariff was roughly 7.1 cents per kWh for all energy exported to the grid. In 2024, that rate is approximately 4.1 cents per kWh exported.
As a leader in Wisconsin’s transition to cleaner, more reliable, and more cost-effective energy generation, we’re committed to working with our customers and leveraging new technologies to power what’s next. The updates outlined in our Power Partnership plan would have benefited all customers and we look forward to continued discussions with the Commission and stakeholders regarding the benefits of this advanced net metering framework.
