President-elect Trump says Wisconsin’s electric and energy costs are 'just about at the highest'

President-elect Donald Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail about what he’d do if granted a second term in the White House. 

Now that he’s got that second term, we were reminded of a promise he made at a Wisconsin rally in early October and a claim that came along with it that we thought was worth fact-checking. 

At an Oct. 6 rally in Juneau, Trump told the audience he’d cut energy and electricity costs for Americans in half within a year of taking office. 

Why did that matter to his supporters gathered to see him? 

"I hate to say it, with your Democrat governor, you have some of the highest electricity prices and highest energy costs," he said. "It’s just about at the top in Wisconsin." 

Does Wisconsin really have some of the highest electricity prices and energy costs in the nation? In short, no.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for evidence of his claim. However, there are a couple of ways to examine it — we’ll start with the big picture first. 

The U.S. Energy Information Administration tracks these costs nationwide. According to its most recent state-by-state ranking of total energy expenditures per capita, from 2022, Wisconsin ranked 24th out of all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. 

At just about the middle of the pack, that’s hardly the highest. Alaska, Wyoming and North Dakota top that list. 

What about looking only at electricity prices? 

To do that, we must unpack a key distinction about the way those prices are reported. First, there are electricity rates, which in Wisconsin are set by the Public Service Commission and allow utilities to generate revenue on top of the cost of the electricity they provide. 

That’s different from personal electricity costs, which are reported on monthly electric bills and account for how much electricity a person consumes and, in some cases, the time of day or month the electricity is being consumed. 

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The Energy Information Administration also reports the average electricity rate by state in cents per kilowatt hour. In August, the most recent month for which data is available, the average electricity rate for Wisconsin residential customers was 17.57 cents per kilowatt hour. 

That’s the 14th-highest in the nation, tied with Pennsylvania. Connecticut, Hawaii and California top the list. 

Wisconsin’s ranking is not "just about at the top," as Trump claimed. It’s not even in the top quarter of states and is slightly higher than the U.S. average, though, which in August was 16.63 cents per kilowatt hour for residential customers. 

The state’s average residential electricity rates have historically been higher than the U.S. average, according to the Public Service Commission’s June 28, 2024 draft Strategic Energy Assessment. 

If Trump had been talking about rates, he might have been a little closer to on track, because Wisconsin does have higher-than-average electricity rates. But it isn’t clear that that’s what he was talking about.

In terms of Wisconsin’s average residential electric bills, those "have remained consistently lower than other states during the past decade," according to the Public Service Commission’s energy assessment. In 2022, for example, Wisconsin’s average bill was $106.94, compared with a national average of $135.25. 

So, pretty much any way you slice it, Wisconsin’s electricity and energy costs are not "some of the highest" in the country. 

And Trump’s statement takes another hit by trying to tie the costs to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. While Evers appoints commissioners to the Public Service Commission, he’s not involved in setting rates. 

Trump claimed that "with your Democrat governor, you have some of the highest electricity prices and highest energy costs. It’s just about at the top in Wisconsin." 

By a few different measures, Wisconsin is not "just about at the top" of the nation’s electricity and energy costs. Even when looking at the state’s average electricity rate, which is slightly higher than the national average, it’s not even in the top quarter of states. 

And, Trump errs by tying energy costs to Evers, who is not involved in rate setting.

We rate this claim False.