St. Paul, Minn. – On Thursday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (Commission) made final determinations on gas integrated resource planning requirements for three of Minnesota’s largest natural gas utilities – Xcel Energy, CenterPoint Energy and Minnesota Energy Resources Corp (MERC).
Gas integrated resource planning is driven by the Commission’s mission to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable utility service that is consistent with Minnesota’s laws. The initiative was prompted by the 2021 gas price spike from Winter Storm Uri, which demonstrated a need for a more comprehensive planning approach to protect consumers from commodity price volatility.
The Commission opened a proceeding in 2023 to gain perspectives from a broad range of stakeholders, including the gas utilities, consumer advocates, clean energy organizations, and labor, to help clarify what gas resource planning in Minnesota should look like. The Commission approved the initial framework for gas resource planning in March 2024. At Thursday’s meeting, the Commission clarified and established essential components of gas resource plans and the process to ensure equity, consideration of costs and infrastructure expansion projects, and filing schedules.
Key decisions include:
- In developing their IRP, the utilities will engage with stakeholder groups to provide information about the utilities' planning process and Expansion Alternative Analysis, answer stakeholder questions, and seek stakeholder feedback to inform the resource plan.
- Require utilities to work with stakeholders and local governments to consider climate goals and prioritize greenhouse gas reduction.
“Gas resource planning is essential for reliability and protecting ratepayers,” said Commissioner Joseph Sullivan. “This past year we’ve been working with utilities and stakeholders to create a framework that can ensure Minnesotans will continue to have reliable and affordable gas resources in this volatile marketplace.”
Resource planning is a forward-looking process designed to identify resources needed to provide reliable service to Minnesotans. Electric resource planning has been part of Minnesota’s regulatory process for years; however, gas resource planning is new to Minnesota and modeled after similar efforts underway in other states. To learn more, visit our website.
About
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission regulates three cornerstone service industries in Minnesota's economy: electricity, natural gas and telephone. The Commission’s mission is to create and maintain a regulatory environment that ensures safe, adequate and efficient utility services at fair, reasonable rates consistent with State telecommunications and energy policies. It does so by providing independent, consistent, professional and comprehensive oversight and regulation of utility service providers. Learn more at mn.gov/puc.
