Minneapolis Residents: It Is Time to Voice Views on Xcel and Centerpoint Agreements

Commentary submitted by Community Power

Ten years ago, on the heels of the Minneapolis Energy Options campaign, the City signed a landmark agreement with its two corporate, monopolistic energy utilities, Xcel and Centerpoint. These two giants made promises to be “good partners” on the City’s ambitious climate goals. Back then, in 2014, their hold in Minneapolis appeared to be threatened both by the specter of municipalization and a growing awareness that the utilities had used this power to undermine climate work in order to serve their own profits. So, assurances of partnership were made.

The City agreed and forged a “first-in-the-nation” Clean Energy Partnership between the City, Xcel, and Centerpoint, watched by a 15 member community advisory board. Importantly, the City won a slashed duration of relationship to 10 years (down from 20 years), set to expire in 2024.

Flash forward to 2024, when negotiations began with Xcel and CenterPoint, behind closed doors for nearly a year. The annual report from the city-utility partnership the previous year was released, showing that the partnership is failing to meet its climate goals.  On July 31, 2024, the Just Transition Fund coalition members rallied outside City Hall and utility company headquarters. Constituents from all 13 wards in the city voiced to the utilities their hopes for the future. The City deepened its bench of experts to defend the interests of residents, and for the first time included elected officials in negotiations.

The draft franchise agreements have now been released for public review. Two things are clear:

• The utilities are afraid of accountability, community input, and threats to their market share or profits.
• The City of Minneapolis was clear-eyed and stood firm in its climate priorities in the agreements.

Read what the City accomplished and the full text of the agreements. Now is the time for Minneapolis residents to share views before the final vote. Saint Paul will have their own franchise negotiations later this year.

Example of how the utility system impacts states

Monthly Electricity Bills Impacted in 13 States

This June, 65 million Americans across 13 states will see their monthly electricity bills increase by up to 30 percent. PJM Interconnection (PJM), runs the electric grid for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and D.C., and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and North Carolina. It is raising energy prices for homes and business owners this June, by up to 30 percent. Why? Because PJM is not connecting new energy to the grid fast enough, causing a shortfall in reliable power and skyrocketing annual energy auction prices.

Over 3,000 projects have been waiting for years to connect to the PJM grid and bring down auction prices, but PJM has entirely paused its interconnection queue since 2022. Of the 157,765 MW of projects submitted to PJM since 2020, exactly 1 MW has gone into service as of June 2024.

Colorado’s Clean Energy Programs

Over 30 bills passed in the 2021 Colorado legislative session advancing clean buildings, climate action,
environmental justice, transportation electrification, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and just
transition. These bills advance the implementation of the state’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction
Roadmap, the strategic plan to achieve the statutory goals of 50% GHG pollution reduction in economy-wide
emissions below 2005 levels by 2030 and 90% by 2050. The Roadmap is a sector-based plan with strategies to
achieve at least 80% reduction from electricity generation by 2030, 60% from oil and gas development, 40%
from transportation, and 20% from industry and buildings.

How the government’s clean energy program is structured

Local Artists Visualize the Negotiations

anonymous artist

artist: Ishmam

artist: chanci