2007 Minnesota Statutes

216B.241 ENERGY CONSERVATION IMPROVEMENT.
    Subdivision 1. Definitions. For purposes of this section and section 216B.16, subdivision 6b,
the terms defined in this subdivision have the meanings given them.
    (a) "Commission" means the Public Utilities Commission.
    (b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of commerce.
    (c) "Customer facility" means all buildings, structures, equipment, and installations at a
single site.
    (d) "Department" means the Department of Commerce.
    (e) "Energy conservation" means demand-side management of energy supplies resulting
in a net reduction in energy use. Load management that reduces overall energy use is energy
conservation.
    (f) "Energy conservation improvement" means a project that results in energy efficiency
or energy conservation. Energy conservation improvement may include waste heat recovery
converted into electricity but does not include electric utility infrastructure projects approved
by the commission under section 216B.1636.
    (g) "Energy efficiency" means measures or programs, including energy conservation
measures or programs, that target consumer behavior, equipment, processes, or devices designed
to produce either an absolute decrease in consumption of electric energy or natural gas or a
decrease in consumption of electric energy or natural gas on a per unit of production basis without
a reduction in the quality or level of service provided to the energy consumer.
     (h) "Gross annual retail energy sales" means annual electric sales to all retail customers
in a utility's or association's Minnesota service territory or natural gas throughput to all retail
customers, including natural gas transportation customers, on a utility's distribution system in
Minnesota. For purposes of this section, gross annual retail energy sales exclude gas sales to a
large energy facility and gas and electric sales to a large electric customer facility exempted by
the commissioner under subdivision 1a, paragraph (b).
    (i) "Investments and expenses of a public utility" includes the investments and expenses
incurred by a public utility in connection with an energy conservation improvement, including but
not limited to:
    (1) the differential in interest cost between the market rate and the rate charged on a
no-interest or below-market interest loan made by a public utility to a customer for the purchase
or installation of an energy conservation improvement;
    (2) the difference between the utility's cost of purchase or installation of energy conservation
improvements and any price charged by a public utility to a customer for such improvements.
     (j) "Large electric customer facility" means a customer facility that imposes a peak electrical
demand on an electric utility's system of not less than 20,000 kilowatts, measured in the same way
as the utility that serves the customer facility measures electrical demand for billing purposes, and
for which electric services are provided at retail on a single bill by a utility operating in the state.
     (k) "Large energy facility" has the meaning given it in section 216B.2421, subdivision 2,
clause (1).
    (l) "Load management" means an activity, service, or technology to change the timing or the
efficiency of a customer's use of energy that allows a utility or a customer to respond to wholesale
market fluctuations or to reduce peak demand for energy or capacity.
    (m) "Low-income programs" means energy conservation improvement programs that
directly serve the needs of low-income persons, including low-income renters.
    (n) "Waste heat recovery converted into electricity" means an energy recovery process
that converts otherwise lost energy from the heat of exhaust stacks or pipes used for engines or
manufacturing or industrial processes, or the reduction of high pressure in water or gas pipelines.
    Subd. 1a. Investment, expenditure, and contribution; public utility. (a) For purposes of
this subdivision and subdivision 2, "public utility" has the meaning given it in section 216B.02,
subdivision 4 . Each public utility shall spend and invest for energy conservation improvements
under this subdivision and subdivision 2 the following amounts:
    (1) for a utility that furnishes gas service, 0.5 percent of its gross operating revenues from
service provided in the state;
    (2) for a utility that furnishes electric service, 1.5 percent of its gross operating revenues
from service provided in the state; and
    (3) for a utility that furnishes electric service and that operates a nuclear-powered electric
generating plant within the state, two percent of its gross operating revenues from service
provided in the state.
    For purposes of this paragraph (a), "gross operating revenues" do not include revenues from
large electric customer facilities exempted by the commissioner under paragraph (b).
    (b) The owner of a large electric customer facility may petition the commissioner to exempt
both electric and gas utilities serving the large energy customer facility from the investment
and expenditure requirements of paragraph (a) with respect to retail revenues attributable to
the facility. At a minimum, the petition must be supported by evidence relating to competitive
or economic pressures on the customer and a showing by the customer of reasonable efforts to
identify, evaluate, and implement cost-effective conservation improvements at the facility. If a
petition is filed on or before October 1 of any year, the order of the commissioner to exempt
revenues attributable to the facility can be effective no earlier than January 1 of the following
year. The commissioner shall not grant an exemption if the commissioner determines that granting
the exemption is contrary to the public interest. The commissioner may, after investigation,
rescind any exemption granted under this paragraph upon a determination that the customer is not
continuing to make reasonable efforts to identify, evaluate, and implement energy conservation
improvements at the large electric customer facility. For the purposes of investigations by the
commissioner under this paragraph, the owner of any large electric customer facility shall, upon
request, provide the commissioner with updated information comparable to that originally
supplied in or with the owner's original petition under this paragraph.
    (c) The commissioner may require investments or spending greater than the amounts
required under this subdivision for a public utility whose most recent advance forecast required
under section 216B.2422 or 216C.17 projects a peak demand deficit of 100 megawatts or greater
within five years under midrange forecast assumptions.
    (d) A public utility or owner of a large electric customer facility may appeal a decision of the
commissioner under paragraph (b) or (c) to the commission under subdivision 2. In reviewing
a decision of the commissioner under paragraph (b) or (c), the commission shall rescind the
decision if it finds that the required investments or spending will:
    (1) not result in cost-effective energy conservation improvements; or
    (2) otherwise not be in the public interest.
    Subd. 1b. Conservation improvement by cooperative association or municipality. (a)
This subdivision applies to:
    (1) a cooperative electric association that provides retail service to its members;
    (2) a municipality that provides electric service to retail customers; and
    (3) a municipality with more than 1,000,000,000 cubic feet in annual throughput sales
to natural gas to retail customers.
    (b) Each cooperative electric association and municipality subject to this subdivision shall
spend and invest for energy conservation improvements under this subdivision the following
amounts:
    (1) for a municipality, 0.5 percent of its gross operating revenues from the sale of gas and
1.5 percent of its gross operating revenues from the sale of electricity, excluding gross operating
revenues from electric and gas service provided in the state to large electric customer facilities; and
    (2) for a cooperative electric association, 1.5 percent of its gross operating revenues from
service provided in the state, excluding gross operating revenues from service provided in the
state to large electric customer facilities indirectly through a distribution cooperative electric
association.
    (c) Each municipality and cooperative electric association subject to this subdivision shall
identify and implement energy conservation improvement spending and investments that are
appropriate for the municipality or association, except that a municipality or association may
not spend or invest for energy conservation improvements that directly benefit a large energy
facility or a large electric customer facility for which the commissioner has issued an exemption
under subdivision 1a, paragraph (b).
    (d) Each municipality and cooperative electric association subject to this subdivision may
spend and invest annually up to ten percent of the total amount required to be spent and invested
on energy conservation improvements under this subdivision on research and development
projects that meet the definition of energy conservation improvement in subdivision 1 and that are
funded directly by the municipality or cooperative electric association.
    (e) Load-management activities may be used to meet 50 percent of the conservation
investment and spending requirements of this subdivision.
    (f) A generation and transmission cooperative electric association that provides energy
services to cooperative electric associations that provide electric service at retail to consumers
may invest in energy conservation improvements on behalf of the associations it serves and may
fulfill the conservation, spending, reporting, and energy savings goals on an aggregate basis. A
municipal power agency or other not-for-profit entity that provides energy service to municipal
utilities that provide electric service at retail may invest in energy conservation improvements on
behalf of the municipal utilities it serves and may fulfill the conservation, spending, reporting, and
energy savings goals on an aggregate basis, under an agreement between the municipal power
agency or not-for-profit entity and each municipal utility for funding the investments.
    (g) Each municipality or cooperative shall file energy conservation improvement plans by
June 1 on a schedule determined by order of the commissioner, but at least every three years. Plans
received by June 1 must be approved or approved as modified by the commissioner by December 1
of the same year. The municipality or cooperative shall provide an evaluation to the commissioner
detailing its energy conservation improvement spending and investments for the previous period.
The evaluation must briefly describe each conservation program and must specify the energy
savings or increased efficiency in the use of energy within the service territory of the utility or
association that is the result of the spending and investments. The evaluation must analyze the
cost-effectiveness of the utility's or association's conservation programs, using a list of baseline
energy and capacity savings assumptions developed in consultation with the department. The
commissioner shall review each evaluation and make recommendations, where appropriate, to the
municipality or association to increase the effectiveness of conservation improvement activities.
    (h) A municipality may spend up to 50 percent of its required spending under this section
to refurbish an existing district heating or cooling system until July 1, 2007. From July 1, 2007,
through June 30, 2011, expenditures made to refurbish a district heating or cooling system are
considered to be load-management activities under paragraph (e). This paragraph expires July 1,
2011.
    (i) The commissioner shall consider and may require a utility, association, or other entity
providing energy efficiency and conservation services under this section to undertake a program
suggested by an outside source, including a political subdivision, nonprofit corporation, or
community organization.
    Subd. 1c. Energy-saving goals. (a) The commissioner shall establish energy-saving goals
for energy conservation improvement expenditures and shall evaluate an energy conservation
improvement program on how well it meets the goals set.
    (b) Each individual utility and association shall have an annual energy-savings goal
equivalent to 1.5 percent of gross annual retail energy sales unless modified by the commissioner
under paragraph (d). The savings goals must be calculated based on the most recent three-year
weather normalized average.
    (c) The commissioner must adopt a filing schedule that is designed to have all utilities and
associations operating under an energy savings plan by calendar year 2010.
    (d) In its energy conservation improvement plan filing, a utility or association may request
the commissioner to adjust its annual energy savings percentage goal based on its historical
conservation investment experience, customer class makeup, load growth, a conservation
potential study, or other factors the commissioner determines warrants an adjustment. The
commissioner may not approve a plan that provides for an annual energy savings goal of less
than one percent of gross annual retail energy sales from energy conservation improvements. A
utility or association may include in its energy conservation plan energy savings from electric
utility infrastructure projects approved by the commission under section 216B.1636 or waste heat
recovery converted into electricity projects that may count as energy savings in addition to the
minimum energy savings goal of at least one percent for energy conservation improvements.
Electric utility infrastructure projects must result in increased energy efficiency greater than that
which would have occurred through normal maintenance activity.
    (e) An energy savings goal is not satisfied by attaining the revenue expenditure requirements
of subdivisions 1a and 1b, but can only be satisfied by meeting the energy savings goal established
in this subdivision.
    (f) An association or utility is not required to make energy conservation investments to attain
the energy savings goals of this subdivision that are not cost-effective even if the investment is
necessary to attain the energy savings goals. For the purpose of this paragraph, in determining
cost-effectiveness, the commissioner shall consider the costs and benefits to ratepayers, the
utility, participants, and society. In addition, the commissioner shall consider the rate at which an
association or municipal utility is increasing its energy savings and its expenditures on energy
conservation.
    (g) On an annual basis, the commissioner shall produce and make publicly available a report
on the annual energy savings and estimated carbon dioxide reductions achieved by the energy
conservation improvement programs for the two most recent years for which data is available.
The commissioner shall report on program performance both in the aggregate and for each entity
filing an energy conservation improvement plan for approval or review by the commissioner.
    (h) By January 15, 2010, the commissioner shall report to the legislature whether the
spending requirements under subdivisions 1a and 1b are necessary to achieve the energy savings
goals established in this subdivision.
    Subd. 1d. Technical assistance. The commissioner shall evaluate energy conservation
improvement programs on the basis of cost-effectiveness and the reliability of the technologies
employed. The commissioner shall, by order, establish, maintain, and update energy savings
assumptions that must be used when filing energy conservation improvement programs. The
commissioner shall establish an inventory of the most effective energy conservation programs,
techniques, and technologies, and encourage all Minnesota utilities to implement them, where
appropriate, in their service territories. The commissioner shall describe these programs in
sufficient detail to provide a utility reasonable guidance concerning implementation. The
commissioner shall prioritize the opportunities in order of potential energy savings and in order
of cost-effectiveness. The commissioner may contract with a third party to carry out any of the
commissioner's duties under this subdivision, and to obtain technical assistance to evaluate the
effectiveness of any conservation improvement program. The commissioner may assess up to
$800,000 annually until June 30, 2009, and $450,000 annually thereafter for the purposes of this
subdivision. The assessments must be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the energy and
conservation account created under subdivision 2a. An assessment made under this subdivision is
not subject to the cap on assessments provided by section 216B.62, or any other law.
    Subd. 1e. Applied research and development grants. The commissioner may, by order,
approve and make grants for applied research and development projects of general applicability
that identify new technologies or strategies to maximize energy savings, improve the effectiveness
of energy conservation programs, or document the carbon dioxide reductions from energy
conservation programs. When approving projects, the commissioner shall consider proposals
and comments from utilities and other interested parties. The commissioner may assess up to
$3,600,000 annually for the purposes of this subdivision. The assessments must be deposited in
the state treasury and credited to the energy and conservation account created under subdivision
2a. An assessment made under this subdivision is not subject to the cap on assessments provided
by section 216B.62, or any other law.
    Subd. 1f. Facilities energy efficiency. (a) The commissioner of administration and the
commissioner of commerce shall maintain and, as needed, revise the sustainable building design
guidelines developed under section 16B.325.
    (b) The commissioner of administration and the commissioner of commerce shall maintain
and update the benchmarking tool developed under Laws 2001, chapter 212, article 1, section 3,
so that all public buildings can use the benchmarking tool to maintain energy use information for
the purposes of establishing energy efficiency benchmarks, tracking building performance, and
measuring the results of energy efficiency and conservation improvements.
    (c) The commissioner shall require that utilities include in their conservation improvement
plans programs that facilitate professional engineering verification to qualify a building as
Energy Star-labeled, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, or Green
Globes-certified. The state goal is to achieve certification of 1,000 commercial buildings as
Energy Star-labeled, and 100 commercial buildings as LEED-certified or Green Globes-certified
by December 31, 2010.
    (d) The commissioner may assess up to $500,000 annually for the purposes of this
subdivision. The assessments must be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the energy and
conservation account created under subdivision 2a. An assessment made under this subdivision is
not subject to the cap on assessments provided by section 216B.62, or any other law.
    Subd. 1g. Manner of filing and service. (a) A public utility, generation and transmission
cooperative electric association, municipal power agency, cooperative electric association, and
municipal utility shall submit filings to the department via the department's electronic filing
system. The commissioner may approve an exemption from this requirement in the event an
affected utility or association is unable to submit filings via the department's electronic filing
system. All other interested parties shall submit filings to the department via the department's
electronic filing system whenever practicable but may also file by personal delivery or by mail.
    (b) Submission of a document to the department's electronic filing system constitutes
service on the department. Where department rule requires service of a notice, order, or other
document by the department, utility, association, or interested party upon persons on a service
list maintained by the department, service may be made by personal delivery, mail, or electronic
service, except that electronic service may only be made upon persons on the service list who
have previously agreed in writing to accept electronic service at an electronic address provided to
the department for electronic service purposes.
    Subd. 2. Programs. (a) The commissioner may require public utilities to make investments
and expenditures in energy conservation improvements, explicitly setting forth the interest rates,
prices, and terms under which the improvements must be offered to the customers. The required
programs must cover no more than a three-year period. Public utilities shall file conservation
improvement plans by June 1, on a schedule determined by order of the commissioner, but at least
every three years. Plans received by a public utility by June 1 must be approved or approved as
modified by the commissioner by December 1 of that same year. The commissioner shall evaluate
the program on the basis of cost-effectiveness and the reliability of technologies employed. The
commissioner's order must provide to the extent practicable for a free choice, by consumers
participating in the program, of the device, method, material, or project constituting the energy
conservation improvement and for a free choice of the seller, installer, or contractor of the energy
conservation improvement, provided that the device, method, material, or project seller, installer,
or contractor is duly licensed, certified, approved, or qualified, including under the residential
conservation services program, where applicable.
    (b) The commissioner may require a utility to make an energy conservation improvement
investment or expenditure whenever the commissioner finds that the improvement will result in
energy savings at a total cost to the utility less than the cost to the utility to produce or purchase
an equivalent amount of new supply of energy. The commissioner shall nevertheless ensure that
every public utility operate one or more programs under periodic review by the department.
    (c) Each public utility subject to subdivision 1a may spend and invest annually up to
ten percent of the total amount required to be spent and invested on energy conservation
improvements under this section by the utility on research and development projects that meet
the definition of energy conservation improvement in subdivision 1 and that are funded directly
by the public utility.
    (d) A public utility may not spend for or invest in energy conservation improvements
that directly benefit a large energy facility or a large electric customer facility for which
the commissioner has issued an exemption pursuant to subdivision 1a, paragraph (b). The
commissioner shall consider and may require a utility to undertake a program suggested by
an outside source, including a political subdivision, a nonprofit corporation, or community
organization.
    (e) A utility, a political subdivision, or a nonprofit or community organization that has
suggested a program, the attorney general acting on behalf of consumers and small business
interests, or a utility customer that has suggested a program and is not represented by the attorney
general under section 8.33 may petition the commission to modify or revoke a department
decision under this section, and the commission may do so if it determines that the program is not
cost-effective, does not adequately address the residential conservation improvement needs of
low-income persons, has a long-range negative effect on one or more classes of customers, or is
otherwise not in the public interest. The commission shall reject a petition that, on its face, fails to
make a reasonable argument that a program is not in the public interest.
    (f) The commissioner may order a public utility to include, with the filing of the utility's
proposed conservation improvement plan under paragraph (a), the results of an independent
audit of the utility's conservation improvement programs and expenditures performed by the
department or an auditor with experience in the provision of energy conservation and energy
efficiency services approved by the commissioner and chosen by the utility. The audit must
specify the energy savings or increased efficiency in the use of energy within the service territory
of the utility that is the result of the spending and investments. The audit must evaluate the
cost-effectiveness of the utility's conservation programs.
    Subd. 2a. Energy and conservation account. The energy and conservation account is
established in the special revenue fund in the state treasury. The commissioner must deposit
money assessed or contributed under subdivisions 1d, 1e, 1f, and 7 in the state treasury and credit
it to the energy and conservation account in the special revenue fund. Money in the account is
appropriated to the commissioner for the purposes of subdivisions 1d, 1e, 1f, and 7. Interest on
money in the account accrues to the account.
    Subd. 2b. Recovery of expenses. The commission shall allow a utility to recover expenses
resulting from a conservation improvement program required by the department and contributions
and assessments to the energy and conservation account, unless the recovery would be
inconsistent with a financial incentive proposal approved by the commission. The commission
shall allow a cooperative electric association subject to rate regulation under section 216B.026, to
recover expenses resulting from energy conservation improvement programs, load management
programs, and assessments and contributions to the energy and conservation account unless the
recovery would be inconsistent with a financial incentive proposal approved by the commission.
In addition, a utility may file annually, or the Public Utilities Commission may require the utility
to file, and the commission may approve, rate schedules containing provisions for the automatic
adjustment of charges for utility service in direct relation to changes in the expenses of the utility
for real and personal property taxes, fees, and permits, the amounts of which the utility cannot
control. A public utility is eligible to file for adjustment for real and personal property taxes, fees,
and permits under this subdivision only if, in the year previous to the year in which it files for
adjustment, it has spent or invested at least 1.75 percent of its gross revenues from provision of
electric service, excluding gross operating revenues from electric service provided in the state
to large electric customer facilities for which the commissioner has issued an exemption under
subdivision 1a, paragraph (b), and 0.6 percent of its gross revenues from provision of gas service,
excluding gross operating revenues from gas services provided in the state to large electric
customer facilities for which the commissioner has issued an exemption under subdivision 1a,
paragraph (b), for that year for energy conservation improvements under this section.
    Subd. 2c. Performance incentives. By December 31, 2008, the commission shall review
any incentive plan for energy conservation improvement it has approved under section 216B.16,
subdivision 6c , and adjust the utility performance incentives to recognize making progress toward
and meeting the energy savings goals established in subdivision 1c.
    Subd. 3. Ownership of energy conservation improvement. An energy conservation
improvement made to or installed in a building in accordance with this section, except systems
owned by the utility and designed to turn off, limit, or vary the delivery of energy, are the
exclusive property of the owner of the building except to the extent that the improvement is
subjected to a security interest in favor of the utility in case of a loan to the building owner.
The utility has no liability for loss, damage or injury caused directly or indirectly by an energy
conservation improvement except for negligence by the utility in purchase, installation, or
modification of the product.
    Subd. 4. Federal law prohibitions. If investments by public utilities in energy conservation
improvements are in any manner prohibited or restricted by federal law and there is a provision
under which the prohibition or restriction may be waived, then the commission, the governor, or
any other necessary state agency or officer shall take all necessary and appropriate steps to secure
a waiver with respect to those public utility investments in energy conservation improvements
included in this section.
    Subd. 5. Efficient lighting program. (a) Each public utility, cooperative electric association,
and municipal utility that provides electric service to retail customers shall include as part of its
conservation improvement activities a program to strongly encourage the use of fluorescent
and high-intensity discharge lamps. The program must include at least a public information
campaign to encourage use of the lamps and proper management of spent lamps by all customer
classifications.
    (b) A public utility that provides electric service at retail to 200,000 or more customers shall
establish, either directly or through contracts with other persons, including lamp manufacturers,
distributors, wholesalers, and retailers and local government units, a system to collect for delivery
to a reclamation or recycling facility spent fluorescent and high-intensity discharge lamps from
households and from small businesses as defined in section 645.445 that generate an average of
fewer than ten spent lamps per year.
    (c) A collection system must include establishing reasonably convenient locations for
collecting spent lamps from households and financial incentives sufficient to encourage spent
lamp generators to take the lamps to the collection locations. Financial incentives may include
coupons for purchase of new fluorescent or high-intensity discharge lamps, a cash back system, or
any other financial incentive or group of incentives designed to collect the maximum number of
spent lamps from households and small businesses that is reasonably feasible.
    (d) A public utility that provides electric service at retail to fewer than 200,000 customers, a
cooperative electric association, or a municipal utility that provides electric service at retail to
customers may establish a collection system under paragraphs (b) and (c) as part of conservation
improvement activities required under this section.
    (e) The commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency may not, unless clearly required
by federal law, require a public utility, cooperative electric association, or municipality that
establishes a household fluorescent and high-intensity discharge lamp collection system under
this section to manage the lamps as hazardous waste as long as the lamps are managed to avoid
breakage and are delivered to a recycling or reclamation facility that removes mercury and other
toxic materials contained in the lamps prior to placement of the lamps in solid waste.
    (f) If a public utility, cooperative electric association, or municipal utility contracts with a
local government unit to provide a collection system under this subdivision, the contract must
provide for payment to the local government unit of all the unit's incremental costs of collecting
and managing spent lamps.
    (g) All the costs incurred by a public utility, cooperative electric association, or municipal
utility for promotion and collection of fluorescent and high-intensity discharge lamps under this
subdivision are conservation improvement spending under this section.
    Subd. 6. Renewable energy research. (a) A public utility that owns a nuclear generation
facility in the state shall spend five percent of the total amount that utility is required to
spend under this section to support basic and applied research and demonstration activities at
the University of Minnesota Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment for the
development of renewable energy sources and technologies. The utility shall transfer the required
amount to the University of Minnesota on or before July 1 of each year and that annual amount
shall be deducted from the amount of money the utility is required to spend under this section.
The University of Minnesota shall transfer at least ten percent of these funds to at least one
rural campus or experiment station.
    (b) Activities funded under this subdivision may include, but are not limited to:
    (1) environmentally sound production of energy from a renewable energy source including
biomass;
    (2) environmentally sound production of hydrogen from biomass and any other renewable
energy source for energy storage and energy utilization;
    (3) development of energy conservation and efficient energy utilization technologies;
    (4) energy storage technologies; and
    (5) analysis of policy options to facilitate adoption of technologies that use or produce
low-carbon renewable energy.
    (c) Notwithstanding other law to the contrary, the utility may, but is not required to, spend
more than two percent of its gross operating revenues from service provided in this state under
this section or section 216B.2411.
    (d) For the purposes of this subdivision:
    (1) "renewable energy source" means hydro, wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy,
and microorganisms used as an energy source; and
    (2) "biomass" means plant and animal material, agricultural and forest residues, mixed
municipal solid waste, and sludge from wastewater treatment.
    (e) This subdivision expires June 30, 2010.
    Subd. 7. Low-income programs. (a) The commissioner shall ensure that each utility and
association provides low-income programs. When approving spending and energy savings goals
for low-income programs, the commissioner shall consider historic spending and participation
levels, energy savings for low-income programs, and the number of low-income persons residing
in the utility's service territory. A utility that furnishes gas service must spend at least 0.2 percent
of its gross operating revenue from residential customers in the state on low-income programs.
A utility or association that furnishes electric service must spend at least 0.1 percent of its
gross operating revenue from residential customers in the state on low-income programs. For
a generation and transmission cooperative association, this requirement shall apply to each
association's members' aggregate gross operating revenue from sale of electricity to residential
customers in the state. Beginning in 2010, a utility or association that furnishes electric service
must spend 0.2 percent of its gross operating revenue from residential customers in the state
on low-income programs.
    (b) To meet the requirements of paragraph (a), a utility or association may contribute money
to the energy and conservation account. An energy conservation improvement plan must state the
amount, if any, of low-income energy conservation improvement funds the utility or association
will contribute to the energy and conservation account. Contributions must be remitted to the
commissioner by February 1 of each year.
    (c) The commissioner shall establish low-income programs to utilize money contributed to
the energy and conservation account under paragraph (b). In establishing low-income programs,
the commissioner shall consult political subdivisions, utilities, and nonprofit and community
organizations, especially organizations engaged in providing energy and weatherization assistance
to low-income persons. Money contributed to the energy and conservation account under
paragraph (b) must provide programs for low-income persons, including low-income renters, in
the service territory of the utility or association providing the money. The commissioner shall
record and report expenditures and energy savings achieved as a result of low-income programs
funded through the energy and conservation account in the report required under subdivision
1c, paragraph (g). The commissioner may contract with a political subdivision, nonprofit or
community organization, public utility, municipality, or cooperative electric association to
implement low-income programs funded through the energy and conservation account.
    (d) A utility or association may petition the commissioner to modify its required spending
under paragraph (a) if the utility or association and the commissioner have been unable to expend
the amount required under paragraph (a) for three consecutive years.
    Subd. 8. Assessment. The commission or department may assess utilities subject to this
section in proportion to their respective gross operating revenue from sales of gas or electric
service within the state during the last calendar year to carry out the purposes of subdivisions
1d, 1e, and 1f. Those assessments are not subject to the cap on assessments provided by section
216B.62, or any other law.
History: 1980 c 579 s 18; 1980 c 614 s 123; 1981 c 356 s 182,248; 1982 c 561 s 4; 1983
c 179 s 6-8; 1989 c 338 s 2,3; 1991 c 235 art 1 s 2; 1992 c 478 s 2,3; 1993 c 249 s 31; 1994 c
483 s 1; 1994 c 641 art 3 s 1; art 4 s 4; 1994 c 644 s 3; 1998 c 273 s 11; 1998 c 350 s 1; 1999 c
140 s 2-7; 2001 c 212 art 8 s 4-7,12; 1Sp2001 c 4 art 6 s 44-46,77; 2003 c 130 s 12; 1Sp2003
c 11 art 2 s 5; art 3 s 4; 2004 c 216 s 3; 2005 c 97 art 7 s 1,2; 2007 c 10 s 5; 2007 c 57 art 2
s 21; 2007 c 136 art 2 s 5