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…
21Apr
Major Minnesota electric and gas utilities will resume shutoffs August 2
Published April 21, 2021 Last Thursday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) adopted a transition plan to allow the state’s regulated utilities to resume service disconnections of residential customers. These utilities had been prohibited from disconnecting residential customers for nonpayment since the spring of 2020. The PUC approved a plan that will allow shutoffs to…
06Apr
PUC approves Xcel program to forgive bills of customers who owe at least $1,000
Published April 6, 2021 Back in December 2020, I wrote a blog about a program Xcel proposed to partially forgive unpaid utility bills of Minnesota customers who are among the farthest past-due on their bills. The “Payment Plan Credit Proposal” was one of several proposals Xcel made in the “Economic Recovery docket,” which the Public…
05Apr
CUB recommends the Commission deny CenterPoint’s proposed investment in advanced meters
Published April 5, 2021 CenterPoint Energy has asked Minnesota regulators for permission to begin installing smart meters to serve its residential natural gas customers. However, CenterPoint provided very little justification for charging customers the hefty price of these advanced meters and has not demonstrated that the value to customers will be worth the expense. For…
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…
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…
09Mar
Xcel, environmentalists square off over planned gas-fired power plant
March 6, 2021 Star Tribune Mike Hughlett The rise of natural gas-fired power was long welcomed — or at least accepted — by both utilities and clean-energy groups. Gas vanquished coal, cutting both carbon dioxide emissions and wholesale electricity costs. But to renewable-energy advocates, gas’ days are numbered — at least as far as building…
08Mar
The role utilities and utility regulators can play in addressing systemic inequities
Published March 8, 2021 2020 was a challenging year (understatement). All of us have been affected, in some way, by COVID-19 and measures taken to slow its spread. That said, Minnesota’s COVID-19 Response data shows that the pandemic has been disproportionately harmful to certain demographic groups. Throughout the pandemic, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color…
22Feb
CUB bill will expand public interest representation at the Public Utilities Commission
Published February 22, 2021. Updated March 1 to include Senate File number. A bill being advanced by CUB and the Energy CENTS Coalition at the state legislature would expand the opportunity for public representation at the Public Utilities Commission. The bill updates a Minnesota law called “intervenor compensation,” which allows people and nonprofits to have…
22Dec
Xcel residential electric rates to remain the same for another year
Published December 22, 2020 Last Thursday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved an arrangement that will avoid a rate increase for Xcel Energy’s residential customers in 2021. This fall, Xcel filed a “rate case” — a request to increase their base rates by 20 percent — with the PUC. At the time of filing,…