State office buildings, universities and prisons would be required to buy at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by January 2006 and at least 20 percent by January 2010, under a bill recommended by the task force and introduced last week.

Doyle convened the task force last year to promote energy efficiency and renewable power.

"Many other states have had good success with the state government setting the pace," said Jeff Anthony, manager of renewable energy strategy at Milwaukee-based We Energies.

Because the bill was introduced so late in the legislative session, passage this year isn't a possibility. But supporters were encouraged by the fact that it had bipartisan support, from Madison Democrats Rep. Spencer Black and Sen. Fred Risser to the chairmen of the Legislature's two energy committees, Rep. Scott Jensen, R- Waukesha, and Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay.

Wisconsin is on the verge of seeing a major increase in its wind- energy production, as We Energies hopes to have three new wind farms, generating 214 megawatts of electricity, up and running by next year. And other wind turbine projects are planned by Wisconsin Public Power Inc., Madison Gas & Electric and Alliant Energy Corp.

The state is also a leader in the popularity of its renewable energy programs. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a division of the Department of Energy, announced new rankings this month that place the state's utilities so-called green-pricing programs among the best in the nation.

The state's four largest investor-owned utilities all ranked in the top 10 in terms of the number of customers electing to pay a premium to buy renewable power. Xcel Energy, which serves western Wisconsin, ranked first, Milwaukee-based We Energies ranked sixth, Alliant was seventh and Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay ranked 10th.

The only other investor-owned utility in Wisconsin, Madison Gas & Electric, ranked 10th in customer participation rate, with 3.9 percent of all its customers buying renewable power, according to the government survey.

We Energies was pleased with its ranking, particularly because the utility ranked second among utilities that have received an independent industry certification known as Green-e, Anthony said.

The utility saw the number of residential customers using the program dip slightly in 2003, but had a significant jump in the number of small businesses that signed up for its program, known as Energy for Tomorrow, Anthony said.

A marketing program last fall generated twice as much interest as the utility expected, and the number of businesses enrolled in Energy for Tomorrow jumped to more than 300 from 90.

"There are a number of businesses in our service territory who decided that they want to be able to tell their customers that their business is powered by green energy," Anthony said.

The renewable bill introduced last week was one of several energy- related bills before the Legislature. Gov. Jim Doyle is expected to sign into law today a bill that would save ratepayers on the cost of environmental upgrades to power plants.

The law, proposed by We Energies, would allow environmental upgrades to be placed on ratepayer bills but remove a utility's ability to seek a rate of return -- or profit -- on those upgrades. The state Public Service Commission will continue to have the authority to decide whether a utility's shareholders or its electricity customers should have to shoulder those costs.