The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.

Energy affordability was on the ballot in Wisconsin. Now comes the opportunity to deliver.

With Governor-elect David Crowley and a new Legislature taking office in January, Wisconsin has an opportunity to rethink how we plan and invest in our energy future.

Families and businesses face rising utility bills. Utilities are proposing billions in new power plants and transmission infrastructure. And large data centers are driving electricity demand forecasts that could reshape Wisconsin’s energy system for decades.

These decisions will affect household budgets, business competitiveness and economic development long after the election is forgotten.

Wisconsin does not have to choose between economic growth, reliable electricity and affordable energy. We can deliver all three.

But first, we need a plan.

Wisconsin requires communities to develop comprehensive plans for growth and infrastructure. Yet our statewide energy system lacks a comparable process for determining which investments are needed and provide the best value.

Instead, major power plants are largely evaluated one project at a time, even as electricity demand, technology and energy markets change rapidly.

Wisconsin needs integrated resource planning, a transparent process requiring utilities to evaluate generation, transmission, storage, efficiency, distributed energy and demand flexibility together.

Rather than asking whether an individual power plant can be justified, regulators should ask a more fundamental question:

What combination of resources can reliably meet Wisconsin’s electricity needs at the lowest long-term cost and financial risk?

Before approving multibillion-dollar investments, utilities should have to show their math.

How much electricity will be needed? What alternatives were considered? How do costs compare? What happens if demand forecasts change? And who bears the financial risk?

The Public Service Commission should require these answers before committing customers to decades of costs.

Data centers make smarter planning essential

Rapid data center expansion makes comprehensive planning increasingly urgent.

Wisconsin should welcome development that creates jobs and lasting economic benefits. But growth should not come with a blank check.

When a handful of exceptionally large electricity users drive demand for new power plants, transmission lines and substations, existing customers should not subsidize those investments.

Data centers should pay the full infrastructure costs attributable to their operations, bring additional clean energy onto the grid and disclose their electricity and water requirements.

Communities deserve meaningful input and enforceable benefits. Regulators must also protect customers if developments are delayed, scaled back or abandoned.

Wisconsin families, farmers, manufacturers and small businesses should not become the financial backstop for speculative demand.

Reliability requires planning, not assumptions

The same discipline applies to proposed methane gas plants.

Growing electricity demand does not automatically justify billions in new fossil fuel infrastructure that could lock customers into decades of construction, financing and volatile fuel costs.

Before approving new gas plants, utilities should demonstrate that they have evaluated affordable alternatives, including renewables, battery storage, efficiency, virtual power plants, demand response and transmission improvements.

Reliability is essential. But achieving it requires comprehensive planning, not assumptions about which resources must be built.

Wisconsin should adopt a Clean Electricity Standard that establishes a clear pathway to 100% clean electricity by 2050, accelerating investment in affordable, homegrown energy.

Expanding clean energy can create good-paying jobs, strengthen Wisconsin manufacturing and reduce exposure to volatile fuel prices.

Clean energy is more than an environmental priority. It is an affordability and economic development strategy.

Efficiency belongs in the plan

Reducing energy demand is often more affordable than building new power plants.

Wisconsin should double funding for Focus on Energy, expand weatherization assistance for lower and moderate-income households, while requiring utilities to evaluate efficiency and demand response in their integrated resource plans.

These investments can lower utility bills, improve homes and businesses, and reduce the need for costly infrastructure. The cheapest electricity is often what we never need to generate.

Turn promises into policy

Governor-elect Crowley campaigned on lowering costs and making the electric grid work for Wisconsin families.

The incoming administration and Legislature have an opportunity to deliver meaningful reforms: requiring integrated resource planning, strengthening Public Service Commission oversight, protecting customers from data center infrastructure costs, scrutinizing proposed gas plants and accelerating cost-effective clean energy and efficiency investments.

These are practical reforms that should transcend politics. Affordable, reliable electricity matters to every Wisconsin family, farm and business.

The election has created an opportunity. Now comes the responsibility to govern.

Before asking Wisconsin families and businesses to pay for billions in new infrastructure, we should determine what we need, compare the alternatives and ensure those creating extraordinary demand pay their fair share.

Plan first. Spend second. Make affordability the measure of success.

John Imes is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Wisconsin Environmental Initiative.