Charter Steel could be one of those businesses planning to grow outside the state.

Bob Venable, president and chief operating officer of Charter Manufacturing, Charter Steel’s parent company, said We Energies, the Milwaukee utility company that provides power to the Saukville steel mill, charges 25 percent more than the average regional and national industrial rates. “And the difference is significantly larger when compared with our rates in Illinois and Ohio,” where Charter also has operations, he said.

“We are not considering moving — we have a very large investment in our Wisconsin operations and are committed to Wisconsin. That said, the non-competitive cost of electricity in the We Energies’ service territory is a key reason we are looking to expand outside of Wisconsin for future growth projects,” Venable said, in an email exchange with the State Journal.

In its comments to the PSC, Charter said most of the blame for We Energies’ high rates was its “massive level of excess electric generating capacity” created when it added two units to the coal-fired Oak Creek power plant in 2010 and 2011, adding 1,230 megawatts of power, as the main element of its Power the Future plan.