2023 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations › Chapter 196 - Regulation of public utilities. › 196.03 - Utility charges and service; reasonable and adequate.

196.03
Utility charges and service; reasonable and adequate.
(1)
Subject to s. 196.63, a public utility shall furnish reasonably adequate service and facilities. The charge made by any public utility for any heat, light, water, telecommunications service or power produced, transmitted, delivered or furnished or for any service rendered or to be rendered in connection therewith shall be reasonable and just and every unjust or unreasonable charge for such service is prohibited and declared unlawful.
(2)
For rate-making purposes the commission may consider 2 or more municipalities as a regional unit if the same public utility serves the municipalities and if the commission determines that the public interest so requires.
(3)
(a)
In the case of a public utility furnishing water, the commission shall include, in the determination of water rates, the cost of fluoridating the water in the area served by the public utility furnishing water if the governing body of the city, village or town which owns or is served by the public utility furnishing water authorizes the fluoridation of water by the public utility furnishing water.
(b)
Unless the governing body of a city, village or town adopts a resolution providing that the city, village or town will pay the retail charges for the production, storage, transmission, sale and delivery or furnishing of water for public fire protection purposes that are not included in general service charges:
1.
A public utility shall include the charges in the water utility bill of each customer of the public utility in the city, village or town.
2.
A municipal utility may, in addition to including the charges in water utility bills under subd. 1., bill the charges to any person who meets all of the following conditions:
a.
The person is not a customer of the municipal utility.
b.
The person owns land that is located in the city, village or town and in an area in which the municipal utility has an obligation to provide water for public fire protection. If the person owns 2 or more parcels that are adjacent to each other or divided only by a roadway or brook, creek, river, or stream, the municipality may bill the person for only one parcel.
(4)
Any public utility which is not a city, town or village and which supplies gas or electricity to its customers may not recover in rates set by the commission from any customer for any expenditure for costs in a proceeding before the commission which exceed 4 times the total amount assessed to the utility under s. 196.85 (1) and (2) unless the object of the expenditure has been ordered by the commission. The commission, by rule, shall establish procedures whereby a public utility may recover its expenditures under this subsection.
(5)
(a)
In this subsection “facility" means nuclear-fired electric generating equipment and associated facilities subject to a loss of coolant accident in March 1979.
(b)
The commission may not authorize a utility furnishing electricity to recover in rates charged to consumers for the costs of repairing, maintaining or operating any facility owned by another public utility located outside of this state.
(c)
The commission may not authorize a utility furnishing electricity to recover in rates charged to consumers for insurance premiums that provide coverage for an accident at a facility in March 1979, if the coverage is first obtained on or after May 7, 1982.
(d)
No utility may otherwise pay directly or indirectly for the costs in pars. (b) and (c).
(5m)
The commission shall promulgate rules establishing requirements and procedures for the commission, in setting rates for retail electric service, to reflect the assignment of costs and the treatment of revenues from sales to customers outside this state that the public utility does not have a duty to serve.
(6)
In determining a reasonably adequate telecommunications service or a reasonable and just charge for that telecommunications service, the commission shall consider at least the following factors in determining what is reasonable and just, reasonably adequate, convenient and necessary or in the public interest:
(a)
Promotion and preservation of competition consistent with ch. 133 and s. 196.219.
(b)
Promotion of consumer choice.
(c)
Impact on the quality of life for the public, including privacy considerations.
(d)
Promotion of universal service.
(e)
Promotion of economic development, including telecommunications infrastructure deployment.
(f)
Promotion of efficiency and productivity.
(g)
Promotion of telecommunications services in geographical areas with diverse income or racial populations.
History:  1981 c. 20, 342; 1983 a. 53; 1985 a. 297; 1987 a. 399; 1991 a. 294; 1993 a. 496; 1995 a. 27; 1997 a. 204; 2015 a. 55.
A charge for fire protection services under sub. (3) is a fee not a tax; imposing the fee against a church is constitutional. City of River Falls v. St. Bridget's Catholic Church, 182 Wis. 2d 436, 513 N.W.2d 673 (Ct. App. 1994).
This section and related administrative rules dictate contract terms between a regulated utility and its customers and do not create any duties independent of the utility service contract. A phone company's failure to include a subscriber in its directory did not result in tort liability. Recycle Worlds Consulting Corp. v. Wisconsin Bell, 224 Wis. 2d 586, 592 N.W.2d 637 (Ct. App. 1999), 98-0752.
A public utility has no duty to provide services to persons in the utility's area of undertaking requesting service who live in a mobile home park, are supplied with services by a vendor selected by the park operator that is not a public utility, and are not claiming that service is inadequate or rates unreasonable. An agreement between the park operator and the selected vendor is not void as against public policy. Northern States Power Co. v. National Gas Company, Inc. 2000 WI App 30, 232 Wis. 2d 541, 606 N.W.2d 613, 99-1486.