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Wisconsin PSC denies Cooley Cap single-meter waiver after split vote
Summary
The Public Service Commission denied Cooley Cap Inc.'s request for a permanent waiver of individual-metering rules for a proposed housing project, with commissioners split over whether the project met the high statutory standard; one commissioner dissented.
The Public Service Commission on March 6 denied Cooley Cap Inc.'s request for a permanent waiver of Wisconsin Administrative Code PSC 113.0803 for a proposed housing project (Docket 4220-EI-113), after a substantive, nearly two-hour discussion among commissioners.
Commissioners said the request comes amid an ongoing rulemaking to update the meter-waiver standard and stressed the commission must apply the existing law. Chair Strand said the commission must avoid creating an inconsistent regulatory “patchwork” while the rule is being rewritten and that the record lacked “strong, real, actual evidence and justification” to grant a permanent waiver.
The waiver request sought an exemption under PSC 113.0803(5), which requires that electrical equipment under tenant control be substantially more efficient than code and that overall electric usage under tenant control be minimal. Commissioners who opposed the waiver said the record shows tenants would have control over lighting, refrigeration, laundry and temperature settings within a range, and that the applicant relied on speculative federal solar funding. Chair Strand said that solar offset alone has not been sufficient in past decisions and that the application did not demonstrate the “minimal use” standard.
Commissioner Hawkins dissented, saying the project’s centralized variable refrigerant flow (VRF) HVAC and a high-performance building envelope mean tenants do not control electricity for heating and cooling in practice. “I believe that this project does, clearly, meet the rules as they are written today,” Hawkins said, arguing Cooley Cap supplied efficiency scoring and real-world billing evidence from similar buildings showing minimal per-unit bills.
Commissioner Neagel, joined by President Nieto, said the application did not sufficiently demonstrate the minimal-usage element of the exemption and emphasized that the commission must apply the current rule as written rather than substitute its own policy preferences. Neagel asked the commission’s legal staff questions during a short recess before final remarks.
After discussion, a commissioner moved to deny the waiver. The motion carried with one commissioner recorded as opposed; the transcript records one person saying, “Me,” in response to the chair’s call for opposed votes.
The commission repeatedly encouraged Cooley Cap to work with staff and to participate in the open public comment period on the ongoing rulemaking (Docket 1-AC-257) to seek a regulatory pathway better aligned with projects that aim for high efficiency and affordability.
The denial does not create new rule precedent beyond applying the current code; commissioners said the rulemaking process is the appropriate venue to address situations not contemplated by the existing PSC 113.0803 standards.
