WPS Rate Increase 2027: About $1 a Month, WPS Estimates

Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) electric customers face a much smaller 2027 increase than the utility requested. After the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) voted on Nov. 5, 2026, WPS estimated a 0.3% electric increase in 2027, about $1 or less a month for a typical household, and 2.9% in 2028, about $5 to $6 a month. WPS had asked for about $11 a month more in 2027. The PSC’s written order, which will set exact rates, is still pending.

WPS says it has about 474,000 electric customers and 350,000 natural gas customers. For how WPS compares with We Energies, Alliant and other utilities in the state, and how each credits rooftop solar, see our Wisconsin electric rates and solar guide.

What the PSC Decided

WEC Energy Group, the parent of WPS and We Energies, said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing dated Nov. 5 that the PSC “approved rate changes” that day in the rate cases WPS, We Energies (Wisconsin Electric Power Company) and Wisconsin Gas filed in April 2026. Its presentation slides list:

• Return on equity: 9.50%, the profit rate the PSC allows on shareholder investment. WPS and We Energies had asked for 9.9%; the current rate is 9.8%.
• Equity ratio: 53.0%, unchanged.
• Final written order: expected before year-end.

The SEC filing does not give the dollar or percentage increases. Those come from company estimates (WPS for NBC 26, WEC Energy Group for WPR), reported the next day by NBC 26, Wisconsin Public Radio and WFRV:

WPS spokesperson Matt Cullen gave NBC 26 the estimates, and the station noted the PSC “is yet to outline exactly what the increases will now be.” WFRV called the figures “preliminary estimates.”

By our arithmetic, the estimates add up to roughly $5 to $7 a month above 2026 levels by 2028, compared with about $16 under WPS’s original request ($11 + $5). Nearly all of the cut is in 2027: the 2028 estimate ($5 to $6) is about what WPS asked for in 2028 ($5). WPS’s April figures and the post-vote estimates may not use exactly the same measure, and neither the reports nor the SEC filing say what usage level “typical household” means. The PSC’s order will show the final comparison.

What WPS Had Asked For

WPS filed in April 2026, in PSC docket 6690-UR-129. Its April 1 release said a typical residential electric bill would increase “by about $11 per month in 2027 and about $5 per month in 2028.” WEC’s April investor slides put the WPS electric base rate request at 6.3% for 2027 and 3.5% for 2028, excluding fuel.

WPS said the money would pay for solar, wind and battery projects already approved by regulators, trimming more than 2,000 miles of power lines a year, removal of 5,000 to 8,000 hazard trees a year, and 80 to 100 miles of underground cable in each of 2027 and 2028.

On the gas side, WPS asked for about $7 a month more in 2027 for residential customers and said no base rate increase was expected in 2028. The reports on the vote that we reviewed did not give WPS gas outcomes.

We Energies Got a Larger Increase

The PSC decided the We Energies case at the same meeting. WEC’s estimates, as reported by WPR and WFRV, put We Energies electric increases at 3.9% in 2027 and 3.5% in 2028, about $7 to $8 a month in 2027 and $6 to $7 in 2028 for a typical residential customer. Our We Energies 2027 rate increase article has the original request and current tariff.

PSC Chair Summer Strand, as quoted by WPR: “We heard you loud and clear that utility rates are too high.”

What It Means for Your Bill and Solar

If WPS’s estimate holds, a typical household’s 2027 electric bill would barely move, and the bigger step comes in 2028. Two cautions apply:

• The numbers are estimates. The written order sets the final rates and the split between the fixed customer charge and per-kWh charges.
• This covers electric base rates only. Gas customers should wait for the written order, which was not described in the reports we reviewed.

For solar owners, a 0.3% change does little to the value of panels in 2027. The split matters more than the total: per-kWh charges are what your solar offsets, while a higher fixed charge is a cost solar cannot reduce. Our explainer on fixed charges and solar savings walks through that math.

What Happens Next

WEC expects the PSC’s final written order before the end of 2026, and WPS told NBC 26 it expects it “in the next few weeks.” WPS said in April that it expected new rates in January 2027. We will update this article with the final residential rates when the order is issued.

Sources and verification

Limitations

We could not read the PSC’s decision documents, so the increases above are WEC’s preliminary estimates as reported by three news outlets, and “typical household” usage is not defined. Gas outcomes, fixed charge changes and the effective date will be confirmed by the written order.