Under Wisconsin law, a utility may sue a customer for three times the amount of the bill if customer had the ability to pay the energy bill but did not during the winter. This is called treble damages. It is in addition to the money owed for the bill itself. The ability to pay is measured as being over 250% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Treble damages, in law, is a term that indicates that a statute permits a court to triple the amount of the actual/compensatory damages to be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff, generally in order to punish the losing party for willful conduct. The ability to award treble damages is a typical feature in legislation that recognizes the potentially willful nature of the prohibited acts. For example, such damages may be awarded by a court in the United States for willful violation of the antitrust laws, for willful infringement of a patent, for trademark counterfeiting, and under the RICO statute, (c).