(The Center Square) – A bill that would incentivize nuclear energy by providing credits and allowing companies to charge customers for developing the nuclear energy in Wisconsin passed the Assembly with an 86-11 vote despite opposition from multiple groups.
Clean Wisconsin and Americans for Prosperity–Wisconsin opposed the bill following discussions with Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Gibson, who called AFP and Clean Wisconsin’s opposition “dishonest opposition” after he worked with both to amend the bill to their liking.
The bill creates a $1.21 per megawatt-hour of generation credit for companies for the first 10 years after 2030 and then a gradually reduced credit for the next 10 years.
“Despite making the exact changes that they requested, these interest groups moved the goalposts, showing dishonest opposition,” Sortwell said in a statement. “I can understand Clean Wisconsin’s position because they only want expansion of wind and solar energy, but AFP lobbied aggressively against what they thought were energy monopolies earlier this session. Yet now they oppose energy source diversity. However, with their organization being primarily funded by those with a large stake in fossil fuels, their opposition makes more sense.”
AFP–Wisconsin reiterated that it supports nuclear energy development but believes that shouldn’t come from the pocketbooks of ratepayers.
“Charging ratepayers upfront and guaranteeing a rate of return before any energy is produced is a model that utilities are looking to implement across the country,” AFP-WI Legislative Director Jerry Ponio said in a statement. “But our organization is under no obligation to protect or advocate for the interests of investor-owned utilities; our organization will continue to advocate for all Wisconsin ratepayers. We believe that effort is more crucial now as families and businesses have seen energy rates in Wisconsin increase over $2 billion since 2019.”
The bill also authorizes the Public Service Commission to approve electric tariffs to large customers so that residential customers don’t pay for the electricity demand from large customers.
Assembly Bill 472 will next head to the Senate, where it must be approved before it can be sent to Gov. Tony Evers.
