Jeff Keebler succeeds Gary Wolters as MGE CEO

Jeff Keebler, the previous senior vice president of energy supply and planning for Madison Gas & Electric, has succeeded Gary Wolter as CEO.

This change comes as MGE is “going through a lot of transitions as an organization and as an industry,” according to Keebler, who has worked 22 years for the company.

In fact, he has never worked anywhere else, having started with MGE straight out of college. He did his undergraduate studies at UW-La Crosse, and got his master’s degree from UW-Whitewater.

Wolter is carrying on as chairman of the board. When he retires, he will have been the longest- serving chair and CEO in company history.

“It has been an honor to serve our community over the years and work with such dedicated and capable coworkers. I am grateful for this opportunity,” Wolter said.

Keebler officially started on March 1 and is excited for the new products and services MGE will be able to bring to its customers.

“Customer engagement is a big part of that,” Keebler said.

He touted the Charge@Home Pilot Project for owners of electric vehicles, or EVs, which aims to provide a more convenient way for customers to charge their vehicles right at home.

“This is a really interesting program,” says Dana Brueck, corporate communications manager for MGE, adding there are no installation fees for the project. She says MGE has been studying EV drivers’ habits and promoting growth in that area for years.

MGE will be announcing the Smart Thermostat Demand Response Pilot this year for residential customers, which comes at time when the company is paying more attention to Internet-connected appliances like smart thermostats.

“We can design programs to help customers use those devices more effectively,” Keebler said.

As the utility pursues a number of projects as part of its Energy 2030 Framework, for which Keebler was a central architect, it is putting money into cleaner energy sources, as well as taking steps to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

MGE recently announced its largest wind farm to date, the “Saratoga,” which will feature 33 turbines and produce enough energy to run 47,000 homes by the end of 2018.

It is also reducing its ownership in the Columbia Energy Center in Portage, a coal-fired power plant, and recently kicked off the Shared Solar pilot project, which began generating energy in January 2017.

As part of that project, the City of Middleton’s Municipal Operations Center now benefits from 1,700 solar panels, delivering energy to the local community.

“We will take full advantage of our position in our industry,” Keebler said. “We will be actively working on it, as technology allows us to grow our sustainability plans, to grow our renewable energy, and to grow products and services.”

Moving forward, Keebler said he is most looking forward to pursuing the new opportunities opened up by technology.

“I personally look forward to getting more involved with community groups — all those things are exciting to me,” Keebler added.

–By Alex Moe
WisBusiness.com