Company: WELPM
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000107815-25-000105
Chunk: 119

Company: WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER CO
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 119
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 The executive order did not impact the IRA's provisions for tax credits and the transferability option.

Environmental Matters

See Note 22, Commitments and Contingencies, for a discussion of certain environmental matters affecting us, including rules and regulations relating to air quality, water quality, and land quality. 

Market Risks and Other Significant Risks

We are exposed to market and other significant risks as a result of the nature of our businesses and the environments in which those businesses operate. These include, but are not limited to, the risks described below. In addition, there is continuing uncertainty over the impact that the ongoing regional and international conflicts, including those in Ukraine, Israel and in other parts of the Middle East, will have on the global economy, supply chains, and fuel prices.

Commodity Costs

In the normal course of providing energy, we are subject to market fluctuations in the costs of coal, natural gas, purchased power, and fuel oil used in the delivery of coal. We manage our fuel and natural gas supply costs through a portfolio of short and long-term procurement contracts with various suppliers for the purchase of coal, natural gas, and fuel oil. In addition, we manage the risk of price volatility through natural gas and electric hedging programs.

Embedded within our rates are amounts to recover fuel, natural gas, and purchased power costs. We have recovery mechanisms in place that generally allow us to recover or refund all or a portion of the changes in prudently incurred fuel, natural gas, and purchased power costs from rate case-approved amounts. See Item 1. Business – C. Regulation for more information on these mechanisms.

Higher commodity costs can increase our working capital requirements, result in higher gross receipts taxes, and lead to increased energy efficiency investments by our customers to reduce utility usage and/or fuel substitution. Higher commodity costs combined with slower economic conditions also expose us to greater risks of accounts receivable write-offs as more customers are unable to pay their bills. See Note 6, Credit Losses, for more information on our mechanism that allows for cost recovery or refund of uncollectible expense.

Weather

Our utility rates are based upon estimated normal temperatures. Our electric utility margins are unfavorably sensitive to below normal temperatures during the summer cooling season and, to some extent, to above normal temperatures during the winter heating season. Our natural gas utility margins are unfavorably sensitive to above normal temperatures during the winter heating season. A summary of actual weather information in our service territory during 2024, 2023, and 2022, as measured