April 22, 2021 The Washington Post Will Englund When that big freeze hit Texas in February, the Lone Star State couldn’t help but share its pain. With its ill-equipped natural gas systems clocked by the cold, Texas’s exports across the Rio Grande froze up and 4.7million customers in northern Mexico went without electricity — more…
02Apr
Not just a Texas problem: Minnesotans will be paying for the recent natural gas spike, too
Published April 2, 2021 Two weeks ago, I wrote about proposed legislation to help consumers weather a dramatic spike in the price of natural gas that occurred in February. The issue is moving forward in both the legislative and regulatory arenas, so I am back with an update. The severe cold weather that hit Texas…
20Mar
Minnesota lawmakers look to help customers deal with natural gas price spike
March 18, 2021 MinnPost Walker Orenstein The severe cold in the southern U.S. last month will result in higher natural gas bills for a huge swath of Minnesotans. In response, a pair of Minnesota lawmakers have introduced a bill at the Legislature to help low-income people shoulder the extra costs. The new measure would distribute…
17Mar
February cold snap could cost CenterPoint customers additional $354, plus interest
March 17, 2021 Star Tribune Mike Hughlett CenterPoint Energy is proposing to spread the cost of a colossal natural gas price spike — $354 per household on average — over two years to help cushion the blow to Minnesota consumers and the company itself. The deep freeze that paralyzed Texas last month ignited U.S. wholesale…
16Mar
Legislature considers assistance to customers to counter natural gas price spike
Published March 16, 2021 This week, the committees responsible for energy in the Minnesota House and Senate will hear identical bills aimed at addressing the severe spike in the price of natural gas that affected Minnesota gas utilities in February. The severe cold weather in Texas and the Midwest last month caused the price of…
03Oct
Make your voice heard: Cleaner, cheaper electricity for Xcel customers
If you follow this blog, you know that Xcel is in the midst of its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), the map of where Xcel will get its electricity from for the next 15 years. If you’re an Xcel customer, you care about clean energy, and/or you don’t want to be charged millions too much on…
27Sep
PUC denies Xcel’s request to purchase gas power plant
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has unanimously denied Xcel’s request to purchase the Mankato Energy Center power plant. The PUC agreed with CUB that Xcel failed to show that spending $650 million was in the public interest and, crucially, that the utility was attempting to sidestep crucial regulatory processes in place to protect consumers from…
05Aug
Xcel’s proposal to buy gas power plant in Mankato should be denied
Since the beginning of this year, CUB has been monitoring the proposal by Xcel Energy to purchase a 720-megawatt gas power plant in Mankato: the Mankato Energy Center (MEC). For over seven months, parties like CUB, the Department of Commerce, the Office of the Attorney General, the City of Minneapolis, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance,…
21May
Xcel’s proposed plan: Good progress on clean energy, but for consumers, the devil is in the details
Yesterday, clean energy and labor organizations joined with Xcel Energy to propose that Xcel close its remaining coal plants in Minnesota by 2030, more than triple its solar power capacity, increase wind power, and make a strong commitment to energy efficiency. In addition, Xcel would purchase the Mankato Energy Center gas power plant. CUB applauds…
15Nov
MN Solar Potential Analysis finds high renewable energy levels to be cost effective
Since last year, I’ve represented CUB on the Technical Committee for the Minnesota Solar Pathways initiative. The initiative, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, is a three-year project exploring strategies to meet Minnesota’s statutory goal of reaching 10 percent solar electricity by 2030. A Solar Potential Analysis, modeling potential costs of various renewable energy…