Feb. 24--A Green Bay utility has agreed to restructure how it charges customers and encourage more energy conservation, under a pilot plan approved by state regulators.

Under the changes, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. will increase its annual contribution to Focus on Energy, the statewide energy efficiency program to boost efficiency efforts in northeastern Wisconsin. Several community energy conservation programs also will be developed during the four-year pilot.

In addition, WPS will be assured that its income won't fall off dramatically if customers do conserve energy, resulting in lower sales of electricity, under the plan. If the utility's sales are higher than expected, customers will receive refunds, and if the utility's sales are lower than expected, WPS will recover the difference over the next year.

The plan also reduced the fixed charge on customers' monthly electric bills but raises the amount customers get charged for using energy -- an amount that can be controlled through conservation or boosting energy efficiency through better insulation and other measures.

"This package contains a number of initiatives that encourage energy conservation in a number of new and innovative ways," said Jim Schott, WPS vice president of regulatory affairs. "The revenue stabilization mechanism ensures that WPS will be a strong and enthusiastic supporter of these energy conservation programs without worrying about how it will affect the bottom line."

The state Public Service Commission made revisions to the deal, which both Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and the Citizens Utility Board agreed to last week.

"CUB and WPS collaborated on the issues to develop a program that will provide substantial benefits to customers and the environment by aggressively pursuing energy efficiency and conservation," said Charlie Higley, CUB's executive director.

As part of its agreement with the customer group, WPS also pledged to support energy efficiency recommendations and building code and appliance standard changes recommended last year by Gov. Jim Doyle's Task Force on Global Warming.

The utility had objected to language from state regulators that could be interpreted as requiring it to lobby for the task force recommendations -- in particular a stipulation by the commission that the utility also support an expansion of the state's renewable energy mandate.

On Feb. 13, the commission removed all language from the rate case relating to lobbying the Legislature on a global warming bill the Legislature is expected to consider this year.

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