WEC Energy Group is a corporate holding company for electric and gas utility companies operating in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
We Energies is WEC Energy Group’s largest subsidiary. Based in Milwaukee, We Energies serves 2.2 million total customers.
Wisconsin Public Service delivers electricity and gas to more than 776,000 customers in northeast and central Wisconsin.
WEC Energy’s Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas deliver natural gas to customers in the city of Chicago and in the surrounding suburbs.
The corporation’s Michigan subsidiaries are Michigan Gas Utilities and Upper Michigan Energy Resources. Its Minnesota subsidiary is Minnesota Energy Resources, which delivers gas to customers in 52 counties in the state.
Coal and gas combined for 93% total generation for both Wisconsin Public Service and We Energies in 2019.
While WEC Energy has a net zero carbon emissions by 2050 goal, research conducted by the Sierra Club shows that its subsidiaries are not moving fast enough toward clean energy to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Sierra Club assigned a score to every utility in January 2021 based on its plans to retire coal, construct new gas plants, and build new clean energy. We Energies received a ‘D’ and Wisconsin Public Service earned an ‘F’.
WEC Energy’s climate policy engagement was also assessed in January 2021 by the Climate Action 100+, which is a collection of 570 investors responsible for over $54 trillion in assets under management coordinated by a group of five investor networks.
Climate Action 100+ found that WEC Energy fails to:
- Disclose its climate-related lobbying activities.
- Provide specific commitment to ensure that the trade associations the company is a member of lobby in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
- Conduct and publish a review of its trade associations’ climate positions/alignment with the Paris Agreement.
Climate Action 100+ believes that an important component of company commitments on climate change is the formation of comprehensive business strategies that fully align with the goals of the Paris Agreement and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.
