Much ado about We Energies

We Energies has been making news lately with their proposal to increase electricity costs rates by 7 percent.The Appleton Post-Crescent makes a great point:

We Energies is saying it needs to raise rates because of the costs of new power plants and transmission lines, increased pension costs and, get this, decreased sales of electricity.

The first reason is justified…

The second reason is less so…

And the third reason? What We Energies is saying is that, if we use more electricity, demand will go up so we’ll have to pay a higher rate. But if we use less electricity, demand will go down, so we’ll have to pay a higher rate.

[Appleton Post-Crescent]

And as a side note, someone in the comments section of a related MJS story requested information on the We Energies executive compensation. I’ll post that info here:

Gale E. Klappa, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Total Compensation: $9,875,302

James C. Fleming, Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Total Compensation: $2,813,948

Frederick (Rick) D. Kuester, Executive Vice President
Total Compensation: $5,116,570

Allen L. Leverett, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Total Compensation: $4,091,387

Kristine Rappe, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
Total Compensation: $2,156,521

[Data courtesy of Forbes.com]

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