MADISON-On Wednesday, Republican Senator Van Wanggaard voted against a bill that would have prevented utilities from charging customers for faulty meters.
The bill was introduced by Senate President Mike Ellis to prevent a utility from back-billing customers for service that was not recorded due to a faulty meter.
According to Senator Ellis, “big utilities put out all their big guns, filled the committee hearings with their lobbyists and exerted all sorts of pressure to kill this bill.” With Senator Wanggaard’s vote, it seems like the pressure tactics worked.
“Apparently Senator Wanggaard caved into the pressure from the big utilities to vote for special interests and against Wisconsin consumers,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said. “It is a rare occurrence when a senator in the majority party votes against a member of his own party to kill that member’s bill. Yet Van Wanggaard did just that, hurting consumers along the way.”
