The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on Oct. 2, 2025 denied the City of Rice Lake’s proposed changes to its parallel generation tariffs (PGS‑1 and PGS‑2), rejecting a proposed buyback (buyback) rate of about 5¢ per kilowatt‑hour.

Commissioner Hawkins, who led the docket discussion, said he was unconvinced by Rice Lake Utilities’ methodology and described the proposal as novel and based on sparse data. “This tariff doesn't really pass my sniff test for reasonableness,” Hawkins said during the meeting.

The tariff under review would have reduced the buyback credit paid to parallel generation customers (PGS‑1 covers generation under 20 kW with net energy billing) from a rate of a little over 7¢/kWh to roughly 5¢/kWh, a change the utility tied to its wholesale costs from AEP Energy Partners and to “avoided” transmission and administrative charges. Hawkins and his colleagues focused criticism on the calculation of avoided capacity cost, noting that Rice Lake based capacity value on meter recordings for two single months and a handful of customers. Hawkins said that approach risks producing “wildly volatile results” because the calculation depends on short sampling periods and limited customer data.

Chairperson Strand and Commissioner Christian Nieto agreed with Hawkins that the record did not justify approving a new rate design at the meeting. Chair Strand said the change would be de minimis in impact because relatively few customers are on these tariffs, and she warned against “imposing a new rate design that we are kind of constructing together on the fly” because of implementation difficulties. Nieto added that while he appreciated the utility’s focus on low rates, there was insufficient information on the record to adopt the proposed methodology.

Renew Wisconsin participated in the docket as an intervener; the commission noted the record was narrow and that reopening the record for additional data was an option but not necessary given the small customer impact.

Motion and outcome

Commissioner Christian Nieto moved to deny Rice Lake’s revisions to PGS‑1 and PGS‑2 consistent with the discussion; Commissioner Hawkins seconded. The motion passed on a unanimous voice vote: Chair Strand — aye; Commissioner Nieto — aye; Commissioner Hawkins — aye.

What the decision means

The commission’s action leaves Rice Lake’s existing net‑metering/parallel generation tariffs in place. Commissioners said the utility may return with a more robust, better documented proposal; Hawkins and Strand explicitly encouraged applicants to provide fuller data responses and more robust analyses if they refile.

Background details

Rice Lake Utilities is a municipally owned utility serving roughly 5,900 customers and operates a 6.5‑megawatt solar array. The utility currently credits excess behind‑the‑meter generation at a little over 7¢/kWh under its PGS‑1 and PGS‑2 tariffs. The company proposed reducing that credit to a little more than 5¢/kWh by reflecting wholesale energy costs and claimed avoided transmission and administrative charges and a de minimis avoided capacity cost.

Commissioners emphasized that if the utility chooses to refile, it should provide fuller supporting data for avoided‑capacity calculations and avoid using extremely short sampling periods or single‑customer data to estimate system capacity contributions.