Published April 5, 2021 Back in January, I wrote a blog about Minnesota Power’s efforts to take a procedural step towards recovering revenue losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a nutshell, the Company sought the Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) permission to calculate the amount of revenue it lost when two of its large industrial…
Published January 13, 2021 Minnesota Power plans to deliver 100% carbon-free electricity to northern Minnesota by 2050. In an announcement yesterday, the Duluth-based utility promised 70% renewable electricity by 2030. It will reduce coal plant operations immediately and close all of its coal generation by 2035. And it will do so while maintaining the reliability…
Published January 12, 2021 The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact Minnesotans in multiple ways. Among those impacts, the pandemic (and related restrictions issued globally to help slow its spread) has contributed to fluctuating demand for steel and declining demand for paper. This, in turn, has recently caused several of Minnesota’s large…
Published December 7, 2020 This month, CUB and Minnesota Power released the findings of joint research evaluating how real customers’ electricity bills would change under four new rate designs that are under consideration. Over the past several years, Minnesota Power (“MP”) has engaged in a pilot program, stakeholder discussions, and regulatory processes to assess whether…
Published October 7, 2020 In 2015, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law designed to allow certain energy-intensive, trade-exposed (EITE) industrial entities to lower their energy costs. The law permits Minnesota Power and Otter Tail Power – electric companies serving parts of northern, central, and western Minnesota – to propose rate discounts to EITE customers operating within…
Published August 4, 2020 Last month I wrote about CUB’s comments filed with the Public Utilities Commission (the “Commission”) in Docket 16-664 recommending that the Commission deny Minnesota Power’s (the “Company”) request to extend the deadline for its Integrated Resource Plan (“IRP”). As noted in our comments, the Company’s IRP filing deadline had been extended twice…
Published July 20, 2020 Minnesota law requires public utilities to periodically file an Integrated Resource Plan (“IRP”) with the Public Utilities Commission (the “Commission”). 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…
Published June 9, 2020 Last Thursday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) unanimously approved a resolution to Minnesota Power’s rate increase request that will result in immediate refunds for customers. The utility, which provides power to Duluth and parts of northeast, north-central, and central Minnesota, had originally requested a large rate increase, including a 15%…
April 23, 2020 Duluth News Tribune Jimmy Lovrien If approved by regulators, Minnesota Power’s Jan. 1, 2020, rate increase will decrease from 5.8% to 4.1%, and the difference will be refunded to customers. Minnesota Power is aiming to lower its proposed rate hike and refund the difference to customers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Duluth-based…
Published April 23, 2020 Today, Minnesota Power filed a request to immediately reduce customer bills, to soon refund approximately $12 million to customers, and to withdraw its pending request for a rate increase. The coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the circumstances surrounding Minnesota Power’s earlier rate increase request. In November, Minnesota Power filed a request…
