Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) Provides Decisions on Madison Water Utility’s Rate Case

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) recently provided a ruling on Madison Water Utility's (MWU) 2025 application to increase water rates (3280-WR-117). 

Madison Water Utility customarily files a new rate case every two years to ensure rates are aligned with costs of operation, necessary capital investments, and maintenance to the drinking water system.  

Utility would like to inform its ratepayers, the public, and all other interested parties that PSCW has approved the Utility's rate case, with updated water rates going into effect on May 1, 2026. 

The rate increase is necessary due to a 6.19% increase in gross plant investment and a 16.71% increase in operating expenses since the last water rate case was completed in 2022 and implemented in 2023. 

The total increase in water revenues is expected to be $5,535,369, which results in an estimated overall rate increase of 9.9% over the water utility's present revenues, or an annualized rate increase of 3.3% over the three years since the last rate increase.

Given this PSCW ruling, the water charge for an average residential customer with a ⅝-inch meter who uses 4,000 gallons of water or less per month will increase from $33.90 to $38.81, or $4.91 additional per month.  This translates to an increase of approximately $1.64 a month or 4.8% annualized over the three years. 

This rate increase only applies to the water charges on customers' Municipal Services bills. Charges for Sewer, Storm Water, Resource Recovery, and Urban Forestry are not applicable to this rate application.

This is a positive ruling overall, as PSCW's approval of the rate case application allows the Utility to:

• Obtain $10 million per year dedicated cash funding for water main replacements, thereby reducing the need for additional borrowing to maintain infrastructure.
• Allow the Utility to continue its path of debt reduction – the Utility has been able to reduce its outstanding debt from a high of $283 million (2018) to $147 million (2026); a reduction of $136 million.