Dive Brief:

• State regulators rejected a plan to lower some power prices for some industrial consumers of Minnseota Power in an effort to save jobs, saying the corresponding rise in residential power prices failed to yield a net benefit to the state or utility.
• The Duluth News Tribune, however, reports the Public Utilities Commission rejected the application without prejudice, meaning the utility is likely to re-submit the application in some form or with more supporting data.
• State lawmakers last year directed Minnesota Power to consider some form of discounted plans for a number of its large industrial customers meeting state criteria as "energy-intensive and trade-exposed."
• Minnesota Power's proposal would have led to a decrease of about 5% in electric costs for EITE customers, but residential rates would have gone up almost 15%.

Dive Insight:

Minnesota regulators last week rejected a plan to cut the power bills of taconite plants and paper mills in the state, but the Duluth News Tribune reports there are several ways the plan could wind up in front of trhe PUC again.

Minnesota Power spokeswoman Amy Rutledge told the newspaper the regulators "said they need more information to make a decision on this unique type of rate request. There has never been this kind of (rate shift) before that's been mandated by the Legislature."

In 2015, Minnesota lawmakers passed a measure aimed at bolstering the state's economy, maintaining large industry and lowering power rates for companies that employ thousands. Lawmakers directed Minnesota Power to consider rate proposals to consider lowering the power bills for some struggling industries, increasingly under pressure from abroad. 

Minnesota Power's proposal would have decreased electric costs for EITE customers by about 5%, while other customers would have seen a new monthly charge on their electric bills. Business and commercial customers that do not qualify as EITE would have seen a flat monthly charge of $11.45
per electric service agreement, while residential customers faced a 14.5% increase.

"I don't see the record established to show there is a net benefit for the utility or the state," the news outlet quoted Commissioner Dan Lipschultz saying.

The utility can resubmit its proposal with more data justifying the cost shift, or submit a new plan.