When the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) approved new protections for Wisconsin ratepayers in April, it sent a clear message that ordinary Wisconsinites should not be responsible for the financial risks created by data center deals negotiated behind closed doors by utility companies and the world’s biggest tech companies.
Now, some of those companies are asking regulators to backtrack.
We Energies and the developers of a massive data center campus in Port Washington are seeking to weaken key financial safeguards that protect Wisconsin families and small businesses from being left holding the bag if a data center project fails, scales back, or otherwise falls short of expectations. They complain that the financial protections adopted by the PSC represent an “unnecessary burden” for Oracle, the future operator of the Port Washington data center.
What they fail to acknowledge is that someone has to shoulder the financial risk. Common sense says it should be Oracle—the 600-billion-dollar corporation that stands to profit—not Wisconsin residents who never asked for the project in the first place.
The PSC’s April decision recognized that data centers are unlike traditional utility customers. Data centers require extraordinary amounts of electricity and therefore costly investments in power plants, substations, transmission lines, and other infrastructure. If a project is delayed, downsized, or abandoned, those costs do not simply disappear. Someone still has to pay for them.
That’s why the PSC decided to require data center companies to demonstrate strong financial backing or provide collateral to ensure infrastructure costs are covered. These are reasonable guardrails that prevent risk from being shifted onto everyone else.
The PSC’s decision was applauded by a public that is tired of being asked to trust that everything will work out. Community members are told that data centers will bring jobs, tax revenue, and economic development. Yet when residents seek information about water use, electricity demand, infrastructure costs, or environmental impacts, they frequently encounter claims of confidentiality, trade secrecy, or closed-door negotiations.
If tech companies want access to Wisconsin’s water resources, electric grid, and public infrastructure, they should be willing to disclose the impacts of their projects and accept responsibility for the financial risks they create.
The PSC made the right call in April, and it should stand by its decision now.
Port Washington Data Center Developers Seek to Shift Financial Risks to Residents
When the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) approved new protections for Wisconsin ratepayers in April, it sent a clear message that ordinary Wisconsinites should not be responsible for the financial risks created by data center deals negotiated behind closed doors by utility companies and the world’s biggest tech companies.
Now, some of those companies are asking regulators to backtrack.
We Energies and the developers of a massive data center campus in Port Washington are seeking to weaken key financial safeguards that protect Wisconsin families and small businesses from being left holding the bag if a data center project fails, scales back, or otherwise falls short of expectations. They complain that the financial protections adopted by the PSC represent an “unnecessary burden” for Oracle, the future operator of the Port Washington data center.
What they fail to acknowledge is that someone has to shoulder the financial risk. Common sense says it should be Oracle—the 600-billion-dollar corporation that stands to profit—not Wisconsin residents who never asked for the project in the first place.
The PSC’s April decision recognized that data centers are unlike traditional utility customers. Data centers require extraordinary amounts of electricity and therefore costly investments in power plants, substations, transmission lines, and other infrastructure. If a project is delayed, downsized, or abandoned, those costs do not simply disappear. Someone still has to pay for them.
That’s why the PSC decided to require data center companies to demonstrate strong financial backing or provide collateral to ensure infrastructure costs are covered. These are reasonable guardrails that prevent risk from being shifted onto everyone else.
The PSC’s decision was applauded by a public that is tired of being asked to trust that everything will work out. Community members are told that data centers will bring jobs, tax revenue, and economic development. Yet when residents seek information about water use, electricity demand, infrastructure costs, or environmental impacts, they frequently encounter claims of confidentiality, trade secrecy, or closed-door negotiations.
If tech companies want access to Wisconsin’s water resources, electric grid, and public infrastructure, they should be willing to disclose the impacts of their projects and accept responsibility for the financial risks they create.
The PSC made the right call in April, and it should stand by its decision now.
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