Wisconsin families could end up paying more for electricity so a giant tech company gets a private power deal.

We Energies signed a 15 year contract with Microsoft for its Mount Pleasant data center that limits power sourcing to eastern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, even though the state's Public Service Commission had already rejected that same restriction months earlier.

The Commission wanted data centers pulling power from across the wider Midwest, including cheaper wind energy from Iowa and Minnesota. We Energies gave Microsoft outdated terms anyway. PSC Commissioner Marcus Hawkins has warned that "over-indexing on a smaller geographic area comes with its own risks," according to Wisconsin Watch.

This is a preview of who pays when massive data centers move into Wisconsin: everyday families, while a tech giant negotiates behind closed doors.

We Energies President Michael Hooper and WEC Energy Group CEO Scott Lauber should scrap this outdated language now. The Public Service Commission, led by Chair Summer Strand, must hold We Energies to the rules it already approved, not the rules Microsoft prefers.

Local families should not foot the bill for one company's convenience. Sign the petition to demand We Energies rewrite this contract, before it becomes the blueprint for every future data center deal in the state.