December 2, 2021 Duluth News Tribune Annie Levenson-Falk From the column: “The good news for residential customers is that … Minnesota Power’s rates must be approved by the state Public Utilities Commission, and the PUC never approves increases as high as a utility requests.” The News Tribune’s Nov. 22 “Our View” editorial, “Guess we could…
30Nov
MN Power customers: Blame big industries’ ups and downs for your increasing electric bills
Published December 2, 2021. This article was printed on the opinion pages of the Duluth News Tribune on December 2, 2021. The recent editorial “Our View: Guess we could have left the lights on all these years” asks whether residential energy conservation and clean energy are to blame for this rate increase. The answer –…
11Nov
Minnesota Power backs off hefty interim rate increase
November 11, 2021 Star Tribune Jana Hollingsworth DULUTH — Minnesota Power Wednesday proposed a reduced interim rate increase to its residential customers, following last week’s filing with state regulators. On Nov. 1, the Duluth-based utility proposed to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) an electricity rate increase of 17.58%, or $108 million. The company requested an interim…
10Nov
Minnesota Power asks to raise rates by 18%
Published November 10, 2021 Minnesota Power, the company that provides power to Duluth and portions of northeast and north central Minnesota, is asking to charge customers an additional $108 million more each year. If approved, Minnesota Power says the request would mean a rate hike of 18.22%, or about $15 a month for a typical…
09Nov
Minnesota Power proposes 17.5% rate hike
November 1, 2021 Star Tribune Jana Hollingsworth DULUTH – Minnesota Power on Monday proposed to state regulators an electricity rate increase of 17.58%, or $108 million. The Duluth-based utility’s typical residential customers would see an increase of about $15 a month, and small business customers an increase of $55 a month. The company requested an…
03Aug
Minnesota Power to transition to time-of-day rates
Published August 3, 2021 After several years of study and analysis, Minnesota Power has received approval to transition residential customers to a new electric rate called a time-of-day (TOD) rate. The cost per kWh to customers would vary based on the time of day the energy is consumed. This transition will not happen immediately but instead…
19Jul
Minnesota Power moving to rates that vary by time of day
July 15, 2021 Star Tribune Brooks Johnson DULUTH – Minnesota Power is poised to be the first utility in the state to fully switch to “time of day” electricity rates for residential customers, meaning power is more expensive during certain hours and discounted when it is more readily available. The move is prompted by an…
06Jul
CUB files to intervene in Minnesota Power’s Integrated Resource Plan
Published July 6, 2021 Minnesota Power, the electric utility serving much of northeastern Minnesota, filed its latest Integrated Resource Plan (“IRP”) in February 2021. CUB continues to participate in the review process and intends to file comments on the IRP this fall. An IRP is a roadmap that public utilities use to analyze and model…
05Apr
Commission denies Minnesota Power petition to defer accounting of lost revenues
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…
13Jan
Minnesota Power commits to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050
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…