On Madison’s east side, two affordable housing developments are at risk unless the Wisconsin Public Service Commission allows them to bypass a law regarding the buildings’ electric meters, TheCapital Times reports.
The projects are set to turn former hotels into a total of 320 apartments for low- to moderate-income renters. Construction is nearly complete for one of the projects; the other has yet to begin. Developers plan to keep rent affordable using the savings from energy efficient lights, appliances, electric heat pumps, and — for one project — solar panels.
Multifamily dwellings built after 1980 must have an electric meter installed for each unit, according to Wisconsin law; however, developers looking to create affordable housing by deploying energy-efficient technologies are pushing back against the policy.
The Public Service Commission can grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis; those requests are on the rise. Regulators are beginning a process to review and possibly update the requirement, but the east-side hotel redevelopments remain, in the meantime, in limbo.
