WED AM News: CUB leader says tech companies, utilities ‘saying the right things’ amid data center concerns; WEDC board approves Foxconn contract amendment

November 26, 2025

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— The head of the Citizens Utility Board says tech companies and utilities are “saying the right things” about who will foot the bill for costly data center development, though concerns remain.

Tom Content, who leads the utility customer advocacy organization, spoke yesterday during a Wisconsin Technology Council event on energy concerns related to the unprecedented data center development happening in the state.

“So Microsoft is saying ‘We’re going to pay our fair share for the assets needed to serve,’ the utilities are saying that ‘We’ve got rate plans with the data centers, or contracts … that are designed to ensure fairness for all customers,’” he said, adding CUB is taking a “trust but verify” approach.

Content, a former journalist with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said CUB wants to make sure the businesses driving greater energy costs through AI and data centers are the ones that end up paying for it.

Along with cost questions around data centers, yesterday’s discussion touched on environmental concerns for the “hyperscale” projects popping up in the state.

Todd Malan, executive vice president for government relations and external affairs at QTS Data Centers, argued these large projects are necessary for the modern economy while acknowledging some community-level worries. The company last month announced details for a planned data center campus in Dane County, previewing a “multibillion dollar” development for the area.

Malan said the company has listened to local “feedback” about the large amounts of water needed to sustain cooling processes for massive data centers.

“A lot of data centers were using cooling technology that used evaporative technologies, so water would come in, it would be used to take the heat out of the data halls … so you’re losing water in the process,” he said. “What we did is actually come up with an innovative approach in which we’re using a totally circular system of cooling.”

The planned Dane County project would have a system that wouldn’t need additional water over time to continue cooling the machines, Malan said. He said QTS has been working with DeForest officials and other locals as it designs the project to address concerns like these.

“There’s a huge role in terms of listening to communities and being responsive to what people’s concerns are about the impacts of these large-scale data centers, because we have the ability to make changes in things like design, or siting,” he said.

But Content pointed to other questions about the future of data center development, raising the possibility of an “AI bubble” and “circular relationships” between the largest U.S. tech firms that are driving growth in AI and related infrastructure.

“There’s a lot of concern … in China, they developed much more energy-efficient ways to do AI, more recently a Chinese company called [Moonshot AI] did … a significant AI development that was at a fraction of the cost of what kind of the vision is that’s been spelled out for the United States tech industry,” he said.

Watch the video.

— Foxconn is now eligible to earn up to $16 million in additional tax credits under a newly amended version of its contract with WEDC, the agency announced.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Board of Directors approved the contract amendment, which brings the Taiwanese tech company’s total eligibility to $96 million in performance-based tax credits. Under the new agreement, the company aims to create 2,616 jobs and make $1.2 billion in capital expenditures through the end of 2029.

WEDC says the additional tax credits are meant to support Foxconn spending an additional $569 million to expand in Racine County and creating 1,374 new jobs during that period.

An earlier contract amendment from 2021 allowed Foxconn to earn up to $80 million in tax credits by the end of this year, based on plans to spend $672 million and create 1,454 jobs by Dec. 31, the agency says. As of the end of last year, Foxconn had put about $717 million into its Mount Pleasant operations and created 1,242 jobs, qualifying it for $62.9 million in tax credits, according to WEDC.

Jerry Hsiao, Foxconn’s chief product officer, points to rising demand for data infrastructure driving the company’s U.S. plans.

“Wisconsin accounts for close to a fourth of our workforce in America, and this second-stage project will double that presence in the state by the end of this decade,” he said in a statement.

See the release.

— The Public Service Commission has approved a $31.3 million rate increase for Madison Gas & Electric over the next two years, $27.5 million less than what the utility had requested, according to preliminary figures the agency shared with WisPolitics.

When fully implemented in 2027, the typical residential customer will pay $5.44 more a month for electricity and $3.43 more for gas compared to current rates.

The foundation of the rate increase was a settlement that groups such as the Citizen Utility Board of Wisconsin Inc. and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reached with MG&E in September.

The overall increase for electricity rates is $28.5 million less than what MG&E originally sought, while the gas increase is $1 million more than it had requested.

Tom Content, executive director of CUB, said the citizen group was particularly pleased that the reduction in the increase on electric bills, including that it will only be 13 cents a month in 2026 compared to current rates. He also cited programs MG&E offers to help blunt the impact of increases on customers.

“I think Madison Gas & Electric is committed to doing programs that help customers with their bills,” he said.

The commission’s actions complete the rate requests on the five largest utilities in Wisconsin. In early November, commissioners approved a $304.5 million increase in electric and natural gas rates for customers of Alliant Energy and Xcel Energy for 2026 and 2027. That was $86.1 million less than they’d requested.

A year ago, the PSC approved $733 million in rate increases for customers of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service over 2025 and 2026.

MG&E provides electricity to 167,000 customers in Dane County and distributes natural gas to 178,000 customers in seven south-central and western Wisconsin counties, according to its website.

For the average residential customer, the rate increase will amount to 13 cents a month on their electric bill in 2026 compared to current rates. That will then go up to an increase of another $5.31 a month in 2027.

For natural gas customers, their average monthly bills will go up $1.91 in 2026 and another $1.52 in 2027.

The utility’s original ask was for a 9.42% increase in electric rates in 2027 compared to current costs and 4.52% for natural gas. The revised rates mean that increase will be 3.8% for electricity in 2027 and 4.84% for gas.

— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, is calling on the Trump administration to detail how it plans to protect the shipbuilding industry in Wisconsin after the Navy’s decision to end its commitment to build the Constellation class frigates.

Navy Secretary John Phelan announced the change in a social media post yesterday. The Navy originally planned to take six ships from Marinette Marine. Phelan said the two now under construction there would proceed, but the Navy would no longer take the other four.

Phelan said it was part of a strategic shift away from the Constellation-class frigate program to focus on building ships faster and that are a better fit for the Navy’s future needs.

“We greatly value the shipbuilders of Wisconsin and Michigan,” Phelan said. “While work continues on the first two ships, those ships remain under review as we work through this strategic shift. Keeping this critical workforce employed and the yard viable for future Navy shipbuilding is a foremost concern.”

The Navy first announced in 2020 that it had picked Marinette Marine, a wholly owned subsidiary of Italy’s Fincantieri, for the contract.

During the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last summer, President Donald Trump touted the move, telling GOP activists lots of places wanted the contract. “I gave it to Wisconsin, but we’re going to have a lot of that built right here in the state of Wisconsin and all other states,” Trump said.

The program, though, has faced scrutiny over issues with design and cost overruns.

Baldwin called the Navy’s decision a blow to the state’s shipbuilding industry, “a blow to our national security, and a blow to our Made in Wisconsin economy.”

“I am deeply disappointed in the Trump administration letting China get the upper hand on us and turning their backs on this key program and the Wisconsin workers who make it possible,” Baldwin said. “The Secretary of the Navy made promises to send other shipbuilding work to Wisconsin to stabilize the workforce but promises aren’t good enough.”

Fincantieri said in a statement the company has reached an agreement with the Navy to continue work on the two ships currently in progress while dropping the other four that had been planned. As part of the agreement, it expects to receive “new orders to deliver classes of vessels in segments that best serve the immediate interests of the nation and the renaissance of U.S. shipbuilding.”

The company added the agreement indemnifies Fincantieri Marine Group “through measures provided by the U.S. Navy, as a result of the contractual decision made for its own convenience.”

The company has workers in Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay as well as Marinette.

“This new arrangement guarantees continuity and workload visibility for Fincantieri’s personnel and the Wisconsin System of Yards – a vital pillar of the U.S. maritime industrial base – capitalizing on the investments and expertise developed to date,” the company said.

— Preliminary DNR data show the number of deer registered during opening weekend rose, while the overall number of deer hunters remained largely unchanged.

Hunters registered 90,671 deer statewide during opening weekend, compared to 87,248 during the same period last year — a 3.9% increase. The number of deer registered this year was 1.1% lower than the five-year average.

Deer Program Specialist Jeff Pritzl said the hike was largely due to an increase in the antlerless deer harvest. He said more permits were available this year due to mild winters in recent years.

Hunters registered 41,923 antlerless deer over opening weekend, a 7% increase from last year, and 48,748 antlered deer, a 1.4% increase.

Pritzl noted DNR can’t do a year-to-year comparison for the northern and central forest zones of the state due to recent zone boundary changes.

Sales for deer hunting licenses, including gun, archery, crossbow, conservation patron and sports licenses, were down slightly from 778,111 licenses last year to 777,843 during the period this year, a .03% decrease.

The total includes 538,865 licenses for gun privileges only, which is made up of gun, conservation patron and sports licenses.

DNR plans to share final data on license sales in January.

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