• Utility Justice- Fighting Xcel's Rate Hike
• Mobilizing for Inclusive Financing
• Coalition Building with the Just Transition Fund
• Organizing City Council Candidate Forums
• Continuing the Energy Efficiency Cohort

Utility Justice- Fighting Xcel's Rate Hike

In 2022 Community Power continued our utility justice work by fighting against Xcel’s 21% rate hike proposal - which includes seeking a guaranteed profit of ~10.2%. For the first time ever, we have mounted the ability to formally intervene - with the help of pro-bono legal representation from ELPC, and strong partnership of the Just Solar Coalition. If we invest in the grid, it should be to enable the resilient grid of the future not to line the pockets of Xcel or re-entrench an outdated grid. With our help, momentum for equity on the power grid is growing to get these issues of inequity and community control be taken seriously at the state-level.

Mobilizing for Inclusive Financing

On a short notice, we packed the hearing room with supporters wearing the Inclusive Financing logo button!

Community Power continued our 6-year long quest organizing alongside dozens of other groups for Inclusive Financing for energy efficiency, which does not require credit or income-tests, immigration paperwork, or property ownership. We held our ground at every step of the way, writing comments in favor of expanding access to energy efficiency improvements to renters and community members who have been underserved by preexisting energy efficiency programs due to the above barriers we continue to point out. 

Make no mistake, this was an uphill battle. Some institutional names in energy efficiency mobilized to block even a pilot of this innovative well-tested but new-to-Minnesota Inclusive Financing program to preserve their own programs as the sole methods of delivering efficiency by putting forth positions that miss and sideline real stories from Minnesota saying what they want and need. 

Thanks to our efforts, the width of the gap in who are not being served by existing efficiency programs is now clearly on record and supporters in the community are even more galvanized. This is only the beginning!

TAKE ACTION! Join the fight for energy democracy and say NO to unprecedented utility rate increases! Your voice and Public Comments make a difference. : 

The Minnesota PUC has scheduled in-person hearings and 2 virtual hearings allowing you the opportunity to express how Xcel Energy’s proposed rate increase will affect you and your family. After expressed opposition by the Just Solar Coalition intervenors of which Community Power is a member, Xcel has agreed to add hearings in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. 

• Thursday, October 20 at 5:30 pm in St. Paul -

  St. Paul Rondo Community Library Rondo Multipurpose Room 461 Dale St N St. Paul, MN 55103

• Friday, October 21 at 2:30 pm in Minneapolis -

  Minneapolis Central Library Doty Board Room 300 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55401

There is a huge disconnect between what Xcel says when it's selling its energy plan ("we'll keep bills low") and then requesting a 21% electric rate increase over 3 years. 

When Xcel wants to raise the rates which we pay for electricity, they have to prove to the quasi-judicial 5-member Public Utilities Commission that their rates are “just and reasonable”. The public hearings they provide are where you can come in. 

Because utility companies are monopolies, they have the power to assert control over the market and prioritize the needs of their investors over their customers, unless held in check by these state regulators.

Can't Make it in person? Take part in these Virtual Hearings:

• Monday, October 31 at 1:30 pm - Instructions to join via WebEx can be found here (pdf).
• Wednesday, November 2 at 6:00 pm - Instructions to join via WebEx can be found here (pdf).

Click here for full instructions on how to write a public comment, submit a pre-recorded video testimony, or attend a public hearing: 

The City of Minneapolis has the scientifically correct climate goals on paper:

We need a robust People’s Climate & Equity Plan at scale for us to actually meet the targets. 

In order to mobilize the City Council and the Mayor to pass something more than half-measures, the coalition campaign will be organizing outdoor house parties this summer.

I - Lee -  will be hosting one in Mid-July!  Community Power organized a series of 2-3 dozen house parties  before and they are a great way to deepen community relations.  Sign up here to host or co-host a "house" party and click here to see the House Party Toolkit  to learn what is involved.

To see what an "at-scale" climate equity plan could look like in action, check out this article: Minneapolis jobs program aims to grow and diversify clean energy workforce by Frank Jossi, April 11, 2022

The MN Public Utilities Commission has decided on Xcel recent Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), but here’s a glimpse ahead. Xcel Energy just released their 2021 Annual Report which might reveal the direction Xcel hopes to take with their future IRPs.

Overall, we need to see some more proof that Xcel trying to avoid actual investing in the things we need: solar, wind, geothermal, storage, demand response, and efficiency.

Here is the Main Page for Xcel’s 2021 Annual Report

https://s25.q4cdn.com/680186029/files/doc_financials/ar-interactive/2021-interactive/ar/HTML1/tiles.htm

Here is the Interactive Report where you can access the text

https://s25.q4cdn.com/680186029/files/doc_financials/ar-interactive/2021-interactive/ar/HTML1/default.htm

Click below to see some quotes from it:

CenterPoint CEO receives a $37 Million salary while customers pay more. The company also ranks among the nation's worst in aggressive lobbying against climate polices

• CenterPoint Boost CEO Pay to $37.8 Million, blowing past other utilities. David Lesar’s Hefty raise comes as CenterPoint Customers Face Soaring utility bills. By Karlee Weinmann   April 19^th, 2022
• Some CenterPoint customers fuming over high gas bills By Heather Sullivan   February 22, 2022
• CenterPoint shareholders rebuke CEO David Lesar’s $38 million compensation(in a highly unusual move) By Shelby Webb,  Houston Chronicle    April 23, 2022

• CenterPoint ranked as a “laggard” in climate policy engagement by utility watchdog group   April 2022