Dive Brief:

• Instead of forming a municipal utility, Minneapolis should enter into shorter franchise agreements with Xcel Energy and seek ways to work with the utility to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to a city-hired consultant.
• With a 20-year franchise agreement between Minneapolis and Xcel set to end at the end of the year, the city has been considering forming a municipal utility.
• The city could allow residents and businesses to shop for power, according to the consultant's report.

Dive Insight:

Like Boulder, Colorado, Minneapolis is thinking about leaving Xcel to form its own utility because the city wants to cut its greenhouse gas emissions more than it can under its current arrangement with Xcel. Xcel is currently on track to meeting its renewable portfolio standard, which ramps up to 30% by 2020.