Earlier this week, Bluestem asked Are King Coal's foxes to guard the co-op? HF234 would leave rural utility customers on defense.
In Wednesday's MinnPost, Briana Bierschbach reported in Republican legislators take aim at Public Utilities Commission:
With complete control of the Minnesota Legislature, Republicans are taking early aim this session at a little-discussed state commission that has a big say on energy issues.
Republicans have introduced a half-dozen bills that would change the power and makeup of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, a five-member group appointed by the governor that has the power to regulate the state’s big electricity, gas and telecommunication companies. The proposals run the gamut, from changing the commission’s abilities to oversee and review new natural gas and pipeline projects to where its members come from in the state. . . .
But church leaders and clean energy groups, among others, are opposing the bills, saying they set a dangerous precedent by weakening the only check on the state’s monopoly energy system. “They all look like small changes but they all add up to a big change in utility regulations,” said Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, a newly-formed organization that advocates for energy consumers in Minnesota. “There’s no market so the checks on that market are so important. The PUC is that check.” . . .
Currently, the PUC doesn’t have jurisdiction over setting rates for both municipal energy providers, which are run by local governments, or rural electric cooperatives, which are run by a board of members. But the PUC can weigh in on disputes between the providers and customers and review their rates under a law passed in 2015. But a bill passed on Thursday in the Senate Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee would remove that authority, allowing rural cooperatives and municipal providers to bypass the PUC when customers have a dispute or concerns about their rates. . .
But clean energy groups and some rural cooperative customers protested, saying the cooperatives can now charge people utilizing solar energy fees as high as $83 per month, the highest in the nation. “Their customers need this last resort for neutral, expert review,” said Allen Gleckner, who works for the nonprofit Fresh Energy. “This is the classic case of the fox wanting to guard the henhouse.”
Read the whole article at MinnPost. As Ken Avidor's artwork at the top of this post suggests, we tend to agree with Gleckner's assessment about the fox wanting to guard the henhouse. SF141, passed in the Senate Energy Committee on a party-line vote, is the companion bill for HF234.
Image: Cartoon by Ken Avidor for Bluestem Prairie.
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