By December 15, 2026, the commission shall establish by order the definition and appropriate characteristics of a very large customer class or subclass for each public utility providing electric service. The commission may do this in a rate case under section 216B.16 for that utility or in another proceeding.
The commission may approve, modify, or reject a tariff or electric service agreement proposed between a public utility and a very large customer establishing the terms and conditions under which the utility will provide electric service to the customer. As it evaluates a tariff or agreement under this section, the commission must consider how best to achieve the following required outcomes:
(1) all costs attributable to the utility's very large customers not exempt under subdivision 3 are assigned to the very large customer class or subclass determined by the commission under paragraph (a);
(2) the electricity to be provided by the utility to a very large customer achieves each quantitative benchmark of the state's electricity standards under section 216B.1691, as demonstrated by a plan submitted by the utility to serve the additional load without recourse to requesting a delay or modification of these standards;
(3) the tariff or agreement contains protections necessary to ensure that other customers of the public utility are not placed at risk for paying stranded costs associated with the utility serving the very large customer; and
(4) any other outcome deemed important by the commission to ensure the tariff or agreement is in the public interest.
This section shall not apply to existing, renewed, or extended electric service agreements of public utility customers meeting the threshold of a very large customer, or to very large customers that have been actively taking electric service from the public utility prior to 2020.
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes