Blog
Centerpoint Energy earnings report reveals $1.3 billion gain from deal with Texas company that benefited from 2021 gas price spike
Published June 1, 2022 Earlier this year, CUB released a white paper outlining concerns we had about a merger involving CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (the Texas-based parent company of Minnesota’s largest natural gas utility) and another Texas-based gas company, Energy Transfer. CenterPoint’s earnings reports have now revealed that, as a result of the merger, CenterPoint Energy,…
CUB looks to PUC to protect Minnesotans from paying full costs of February 2021 winter storm
Published May 26, 2022 Earlier this week, two judges recommended that natural gas customers should bear the full $660 million cost of a February 2021 winter storm. CUB is pushing back to make utility companies share the burden – and we could use your help. In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri caused natural gas prices…
Welcome Austin Northagen, CUB’s new legal intern
Published May 24, 2022 Austin joined the Citizens Utility Board in May 2022 as a legal intern. He will be conducting legal research and writing to support CUB’s participation in Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Dockets and in ongoing rate cases. Austin is a rising 3L at the University of St. Thomas School of Law where…
CUB files comments on Minnesota Power’s risky power plant investment
Published May 24, 2022 Minnesota Power, the electric utility serving much of northeastern Minnesota, filed its latest Integrated Resource Plan (“IRP”) in February 2021. An IRP is a roadmap that public utilities use to analyze and model various strategies for meeting electricity demand over the next 15-year time horizon. Ideally, the IRP planning process allows utilities to…
CUB fighting Minnesota Power’s proposed 18% rate hike
Published April 21, 2022 In November 2021, Minnesota Power filed documents with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (the PUC) seeking to raise its rates by about 18 percent. If approved, electricity rates would go up by about $15 per month for a typical household in Minnesota Power’s service territory. CUB is fighting back. Background This…