Company: WELPM
Filing Date: 2025-03-27
Form Type: DEF 14C
Source: 0000107815-25-000155
Chunk: 115

Company: WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER CO
Filing Date: 2025-03-27
Form: DEF 14C
Chunk 115
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 of those costs is probable. We record regulatory assets pursuant to generic and/or specific orders issued by our regulators. Recovery of the deferred costs in future rates is subject to the review and approval by our regulators. We assume the risks and benefits of ultimate recovery of these items in future rates. If the recovery of the deferred costs is not approved by our regulators, the costs would be charged to income in the current period. Regulators can impose liabilities on a prospective basis for amounts previously collected from customers and for amounts that are expected to be refunded to customers. We record these items as regulatory liabilities. See Note 7, Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, for more information on our regulatory assets and liabilities.

| Wisconsin Electric Power Company |     | B-21 |     | 2024 Annual Financial Statements |

Petitions Before PSCW Regarding Third-Party Financed Distributed Energy Resources

In May 2022, a petition was filed with the PSCW requesting a declaratory ruling that the owner of a third-party financed DER is not a "public utility" as defined under Wisconsin law and, therefore, is not subject to the PSCW’s jurisdiction under any statute or rule regulating public utilities. The party that filed the petition provides financing to its customers for installation of DERs (including solar panels and energy storage) on the customer’s property. A DER is connected to the host customer’s utility meter and is used for the customer’s energy needs. It may also be connected to the grid for distribution.

In December 2022, the PSCW granted the petitioner’s request for a declaratory ruling in part, finding that the owner of the third-party financed DER at issue in the petitioner’s brief is not a public utility under Wisconsin law, but declining to issue the petitioner’s request for a broader declaratory ruling that the petitioner would not be regulated as a "public utility".

Upon appeal, in April 2024, the Dane County Circuit Court reversed the PSCW’s decision, finding that the PSCW erroneously interpreted the definition of "public utility," and the evidence did not support its determination that the lease at issue in the petition did not involve the sale of electricity to the "public" under Wisconsin law. The case was remanded to the PSCW for further review. Although the PSCW issued an order in June 2024 to reopen the docket to consider modifications, the project lease originally at issue was no longer going forward, and so in October 2024 the PSCW issued an order declining to