---
title: "We Energies seeks $2.3 billion for power from Wisconsin's 1.5 GW AI gas plants as customers pay for dead coal"
description: "The state has approved 1.5 gigawatts of gas for data centers, and We Energies has filed to buy the plants for $2.3 billion. The same rate-recovery machinery already leaves Wisconsin customers owing nearly $1 billion for coal plants that went dark years ago."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Power"
published: 2026-10-21T17:13:12.035Z
modified: 2026-10-21T17:13:12.035Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/we-energies-seeks-2-3-billion-for-power-from-wisconsin-s-1-5-gw-ai-gas-plants-as-customers-pay-for-dead-coal
language: en
keywords: "Utilities, Data Centers, Natural Gas, Ratepayers, Coal, Wisconsin"
---

# We Energies seeks $2.3 billion for power from Wisconsin's 1.5 GW AI gas plants as customers pay for dead coal

> The state has approved 1.5 gigawatts of gas for data centers, and We Energies has filed to buy the plants for $2.3 billion. The same rate-recovery machinery already leaves Wisconsin customers owing nearly $1 billion for coal plants that went dark years ago.

## A bill that pays for 2018 and 2030 at once

Pleasant Prairie, once Wisconsin's largest coal plant, went dark in 2018, and a line on We Energies bills will keep paying for it until 2039 [3]. On October 15, 2026, [the state Public Service Commission unanimously approved two gas plants](https://www.wpr.org/news/state-regulators-approve-2-southern-wisconsin-natural-gas-plants) for data centers, Foundry Ridge (324 MW, due 2028) and Red Oak Ridge (nearly 1.2 GW, due 2030), about 1.5 GW combined, from Invenergy, a private Chicago developer [1].

We Energies, the utility serving Milwaukee and most of southeast Wisconsin, [has already filed to buy power from both plants for a combined $2.3 billion](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/regulators-approve-gas-plants-to-power-data-centers-despite-opposition/ar-AA2ekcur), pending the commission's approval [2]. Wisconsin expects electricity demand to rise 40% by 2032, driven by data centers including [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft)'s Mount Pleasant campus and a Port Washington site built for [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai) and [Oracle](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/oracle) [1][3].

## The plants cleared review without a need test

Wisconsin's merchant statute splits these deals in two, and the first gas projects ever approved this way exposed the gap: Invenergy needed no showing of public need to build, and need is weighed only when the utility acquires the plants, by which time they may already be standing [1][2].

Commission Chair Summer Strand said regulators were "limited in what we can consider" and called the framework "ripe for legislative action" [1]. Commissioner Kristy Nieto named the driver plainly: "gas for AI" [1]. UW-Madison researchers [project $1.4 billion in health damages and 118 US deaths](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/14-billion-in-projected-health-harms-triggers-backlash-over-wisconsin-gas-fired-plants-for-data-centers/ar-AA2a8rAK), 41 of them Wisconsinites, from the plants' particulate pollution over 30 years [5].

## $2.3 billion going out, $1 billion never left

*Chart: **The $2.3 billion gas purchase would stack on $1 billion of dead coal debt** Bar chart comparing the pending $2.3 billion We Energies gas plant purchase against Wisconsin's $1.0 billion statewide coal stranded debt, Oak Creek's $0.65 billion unpaid balance, and the $0.12 billion securitization savings the utility declined.*

*US$ billions. Purchase price from We Energies' pending PSC application (Journal Sentinel, Oct 2026); coal-debt figures from Wisconsin Watch's accounting of WEC utility regulatory filings, Dec 2025. [2][3]*

The purchase would ride the machinery that already carries the coal debt: utility assets recovered through customer rates at a guaranteed return near 9.8% [3]. Oak Creek, a coal plant retiring this year, [leaves about $650 million on the books](https://wisconsinwatch.org/2025/12/wisconsin-stranded-assets-power-plants-energy-data-centers-ratepayers-utility-cost/), [nearly $30 a year per residential customer for 17 years by RMI's count](https://gcn.com/wisconsin-coal-plant-last-produced-power/22549/) [3][4].

In 2024 the commission said it was "disappointed" that We Energies declined securitization, a cheaper refinancing that would have saved customers $117.5 million [3][4]. The listed exposure runs through [WEC Energy Group](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/wec-energy-group) (NYSE: WEC), We Energies' Milwaukee-based parent, whose quarterly capital spending hit $1.565 billion in Q3 2025, up 96.5% year over year [8].

*Chart: **WEC's construction spending has roughly doubled since 2023 as the buildout starts** Line chart of WEC Energy Group quarterly capital expenditure from Q3 2023 to Q2 2026, rising from under $0.8 billion to $1.565 billion in Q3 2025 and $1.262 billion in Q2 2026.*

*Quarterly capital expenditure, US$ billions, from WEC Energy Group's SEC filings, Q3 2023 through Q2 2026. [8]*

## What the utility says, and what November 3 decides

We Energies says most of the coal debt paid for federally mandated pollution controls and its generation overhaul will save customers hundreds of millions; Invenergy cites reliability and jobs [1][3]. Todd Stuart of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group carries the other risk: plants built for data centers that never fully show up, leaving ratepayers "holding the bag" [3]. Minnesota bars passing such costs to ratepayers; Wisconsin has no such law [3].

The $2.3 billion filing lands before a commission that the next governor restaffs: [on November 3, 2026, voters choose that governor and the entire legislature](https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin_election_preview,_2026) [6][7], and Republican candidate Tom Tiffany has [vowed to replace the acting commissioners on "day one"](https://wisconsinwatch.org/2026/10/wisconsin-utilities-campaign-finance-spending-energy-future-data-centers-high-stakes/) [6]. Wisconsin's AI boom runs through the same meter that still bills for dead coal.

## Takeaway

Wisconsin approved 1.5 GW of gas for data centers with no need test at build time, and We Energies' $2.3 billion purchase filing would recover it through rates under the same machinery that leaves customers paying nearly $1 billion for coal plants that already went dark.

## Sources

1. [Wisconsin Public Radio, "State regulators approve 2 southern Wisconsin natural gas plants," 19 October 2026](https://www.wpr.org/news/state-regulators-approve-2-southern-wisconsin-natural-gas-plants)
2. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via MSN), "Regulators approve gas plants to power data centers, despite opposition," 15 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/regulators-approve-gas-plants-to-power-data-centers-despite-opposition/ar-AA2ekcur)
3. [Wisconsin Watch, "As energy-hungry data centers loom, Wisconsin ratepayers owe $1 billion on shuttered power plants," 18 December 2025](https://wisconsinwatch.org/2025/12/wisconsin-stranded-assets-power-plants-energy-data-centers-ratepayers-utility-cost/)
4. [GCN, "A Wisconsin coal plant last produced power eight years ago, and residents will keep paying its bill until 2039, adding up to nearly a billion dollars statewide," 17 October 2026](https://gcn.com/wisconsin-coal-plant-last-produced-power/22549/)
5. [The Cool Down (via MSN), "$1.4 billion in projected health harms triggers backlash over Wisconsin gas-fired plants for data centers," 14 August 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/14-billion-in-projected-health-harms-triggers-backlash-over-wisconsin-gas-fired-plants-for-data-centers/ar-AA2a8rAK)
6. [Wisconsin Watch, "Despite high stakes for energy future, Wisconsin's utilities scale back campaign spending — so far," 16 October 2026](https://wisconsinwatch.org/2026/10/wisconsin-utilities-campaign-finance-spending-energy-future-data-centers-high-stakes/)
7. [Ballotpedia, "Wisconsin election preview, 2026," 8 October 2026](https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin_election_preview,_2026)
8. [WEC Energy Group, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 21 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000783325)


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We Energies seeks $2.3 billion for power from Wisconsin's 1.5 GW AI gas plants as customers pay for dead coal — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/we-energies-seeks-2-3-billion-for-power-from-wisconsin-s-1-5-gw-ai-gas-plants-as-customers-pay-for-dead-coal