The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin voted Nov. 20 to approve a unanimous settlement resolving Madison Gas and Electric Company's rate request for test years 2026 and 2027, subject to standard order conditions and a new reporting requirement for low- and moderate-income (LMI) programs.

Commissioner Hawkins, who led the discussion of docket 3270UR126, said the settlement was executed by all parties and presented two threshold issues under Wisconsin statute 196.026: (1) whether procedural requirements for settlement filings were satisfied and (2) whether the settlement represents a fair and reasonable resolution supported by substantial evidence. Hawkins said both criteria were met and recommended approval with conditions.

Hawkins said the settlement reduced the applicant's originally requested increases. The transcript records the settlement as proposing an electric increase of "point 04%" for 2026 and 3.76% for 2027, and gas increases of 2.77% for 2026 and 2.04% for 2027; the transcript's numeric phrasing was uneven in places and is reported here as read in the meeting. Hawkins noted hundreds of written comments and three public speakers had been part of the record.

The settlement was signed by five intervening parties: Blacks for Political and Social Action of Dane County (BPSA), the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), IBEW-represented MG&E employees, Renew Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group (WIG). Hawkins said those parties collectively represented a broad cross-section of customer interests and that staff's analyses and the record supported the settlement.

Commissioner Hawkins proposed a condition to improve commission visibility into new LMI programs funded by the settlement: he said MG&E, CUB and BPSA should develop a plan for spending the agreed amounts (descriptions of annual budget allocation across program areas, program design and delivery, and proposed evaluation metrics) and submit it to the commission by April 1 of each test year. He noted the applicant and signatories had committed to work toward a March 1 timeline in comments, but recommended April 1 as a formal submission date.

Hawkins also clarified a memo point on the renewable natural gas (RNG) pilot: MG&E committed in rebuttal testimony to include specific constituent limits (siloxanes, ammonia, biologicals and volatile organic compounds) in its final gas quality tariff language.

Commissioners concurred that the settlement met statutory criteria and that the additional LMI reporting condition would provide needed transparency; they rejected three other proposed conditions as unnecessary. Speaker 3 moved to approve the settlement consistent with the discussion; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The commission recorded the approval in docket 3270UR126.

Unidentified staff noted it is standard practice for the commission to circulate a draft final decision back to commissioners on IOU rate cases, allowing adjustments to nuanced language before the final order is issued.