Minnesota Energy Conservation Legislation

STATE OF MINNESOTA

216B.241 Energy conservation improvements.

Subdivision 1. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the terms defined in this subdivision have the meanings given them.

(a) "Commission" means the public utilities commission.

(b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of public service.

(d) "Energy conservation improvement" means the purchase or installation of a device, method, or material that reduces consumption of or increases efficiency in the use of electricity or natural gas, including, but not limited to:

(1) insulation and ventilation;

(2) storm or thermal doors or windows;

(3) caulking and weatherstripping;

(4) furnace efficiency modifications;

(5) thermostat or lighting controls;

(6) awnings; or

(7) systems to turn off or vary the delivery of energy.

The term "energy conservation improvement" includes a device or method that creates, converts, or actively uses energy from renewable sources such as solar, wind, and biomass, provided that the device or method conforms with national or state performance and quality standards whenever applicable.

(e) "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.

Subd. 1a. Investments, expenditures, and contributions; regulated utilities.

(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, .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.

(b) 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 mid-range forecast assumptions. A public utility may appeal a decision of the commissioner under this paragraph to the commission under subdivision 2. In reviewing a decision of the commissioner under this paragraph, the commission shall rescind the decision if it finds that the required investments or spending will:

(1) not result in cost-effective programs; or
(2) otherwise not be in the public interest.

(c) Each utility shall determine what portion of the amount it sets aside for conservation improvement will be used for conservation improvements under subdivision 2 and what portion it will contribute to the energy and conservation account established in subdivision 2a. Contributions must be remitted to the commissioner of public service by February 1 of each year. Nothing in this subdivision prohibits a public utility from spending or investing for energy conservation improvement more than required in this subdivision.

Subd. 1b. Conservation improvements; cooperatives; municipalities.
(a) This subdivision applies to:

(1) a cooperative electric association that generates and transmits electricity to associations that provide electricity at retail including a cooperative electric association not located in this state that serves associations or others in the state;
(2) a municipality that provides electric service to retail customers; and
(3) a municipality with gross operating revenues in excess of $5,000,000 from sales of 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, .5 percent of its gross operating revenues from the sale of gas and one percent of its gross operating revenues from the sale of electricity not purchased from a public utility governed by subdivision 1a or a cooperative electric association governed by this subdivision; and
(2) for a cooperative electric association, 1.5 percent of its gross operating revenues from service provided in the state.

(c) Each municipality and cooperative association subject to this subdivision shall identify and implement energy conservation improvement spending and investments that are appropriate for the municipality or association. Load management may be used to meet the requirements of this subdivision if it reduces the demand for or increases the efficiency of electric services. A generation and transmission cooperative electric association may include as spending and investment required under this subdivision conservation improvement spending and investment by cooperative electric associations that provide electric service at retail to consumers and that are served by the generation and transmission association. By February 1 of each year, each municipality or cooperative shall report to the commissioner its energy conservation improvement spending and investments with a brief analysis of effectiveness in reducing consumption of electricity or gas. The commissioner shall review each report and make recommendations, where appropriate, to the municipality or association to increase the effectiveness of conservation improvement activities. The commissioner shall also review each report for whether a portion of the money spent on residential conservation improvement programs is devoted to programs that directly address the needs of renters and low-income persons unless an insufficient number of appropriate programs are available. For the purposes of this subdivision and subdivision 2, "low-income" means an income of less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

(d) As part of its spending for conservation improvement, a municipality or association may contribute to the energy and conservation account. Any amount contributed must be remitted to the commissioner of public service by February 1 of each year. Subd. 1c. Energy-saving goals. 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.

Subd. 2. Programs. The commissioner may by rule 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 a two-year period. The commissioner shall require at least one public utility to establish a pilot program to make investments in and expenditures for energy from renewable resources such as solar, wind, or biomass and shall give special consideration and encouragement to programs that bring about significant net savings through the use of energy-efficient lighting. The commissioner shall evaluate the program on the basis of cost-effectiveness and the reliability of technologies employed. The rules of the department must provide to the extent practicable for a free choice, by consumers participating in the program, of the device, method, or material 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, seller, installer, or contractor is duly licensed, certified, approved, or qualified, including under the residential conservation services program, where applicable. 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. Load management may be used to meet the requirements for energy conservation improvements under this section if it results in a demonstrable reduction in consumption of energy. The commissioner shall consider and may require a utility to undertake a program suggested by an outside source, including a political subdivision or a nonprofit or community organization. No utility may make an energy conservation improvement under this section to a building envelope unless:

(1) it is the primary supplier of energy used for either space heating or cooling in the building;

(2) the commissioner determines that special circumstances, which would unduly restrict the availability of conservation programs, warrant otherwise; or

(3) the utility has been awarded a contract under subdivision 2a. The commissioner shall ensure that a portion of the money spent on residential conservation improvement programs is devoted to programs that directly address the needs of renters and low-income persons unless an insufficient number of appropriate programs are available. 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 person petitioning for commission review has the burden of proof. 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.

Subd. 2a. Energy and conservation account. The commissioner shall deposit money contributed under subdivisions 1a and 1b in the energy and conservation account in the general fund. Money in the account is appropriated to the department for programs designed to meet the energy conservation needs of low-income persons and to make energy conservation improvements in areas not adequately served under subdivision 2. Interest on money in the account accrues to the account. Using information collected under section 216C.02, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), the commissioner shall, to the extent possible, allocate enough money to programs for low-income persons to assure that their needs are being adequately addressed. The commissioner shall request the commissioner of finance to transfer money from the account to the commissioner of economic security for an energy conservation program for low-income persons. In establishing programs, the commissioner shall consult political subdivisions and nonprofit and community organizations, especially organizations engaged in providing energy and weatherization assistance to low-income persons. At least one program must address the need for energy conservation improvements in areas in which a high percentage of residents use fuel oil or propane to fuel their source of home heating. The commissioner may contract with a political subdivision, a nonprofit or community organization, a public utility, a municipality, or a cooperative electric association to implement its programs.

Subd. 2b. Recovery of expenses; taxes. The commission shall allow a utility to recover expenses resulting from a conservation improvement program required by the department 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 and .6 percent of its gross revenues from provision of gas service for that year for energy conservation improvements under this section.

Subd. 3. Ownership of energy conservation improvements. 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.

HIST: 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

STATE OF MINNESOTA

268.37 Coordination of federal and state residential weatherization programs.

Subdivision 1. Agency designation. The department of economic security is the state agency to apply for, receive, and disburse money made available to the state by federal law for the purpose of weatherizing the residences of low-income persons. The commissioner of economic security shall coordinate available federal money with state money appropriated for this purpose.

Subd. 2. Grants. The commissioner shall make grants of federal and state money to community action agencies and other public or private nonprofit agencies for the purpose of weatherizing the residences of low-income persons. Grant applications shall be submitted in accordance with rules promulgated by the commissioner.

Subd. 2a. Benefits of weatherization. In the case of any grant made to an owner of a rental dwelling unit for weatherization, the commissioner shall require that

(1) the benefits of weatherization assistance in connection with the dwelling unit accrue primarily to the low-income family that resides in the unit;

(2) the rents on the dwelling unit will not be raised because of any increase in value due solely to the weatherization assistance; and

(3) no undue or excessive enhancement will occur to the value of the dwelling unit.

Subd. 3. Rules; report. The commissioner shall promulgate emergency rules as necessary to administer the grants program and shall promulgate permanent rules by July 1, 1980. The rules shall describe:

(a) procedures for the administration of grants,
(b) data to be reported by grant recipients, and
(c) other matters the commissioner finds necessary for the proper administration of the grant program including compliance with relevant federal regulations. The commissioner must require that a rental unit weatherized under this section be rented to a household meeting the income limits of the program for 24 of the 36 months after weatherization is complete. In applying this restriction to multiunit buildings weatherized under this section, the commissioner shall require that occupancy continue to reflect the proportion of eligible households in the building at the time of weatherization. The commissioner shall report by February 1, 1988, to the chair of the health and human services divisions of the house appropriations and senate finance committees all steps taken to implement the requirement restricting rental of weatherized units to eligible households. Subd. 4. Grant allocation. The commissioner shall distribute supplementary state grants in a manner consistent with the goal of producing the maximum number of weatherized units. Supplementary state grants are provided primarily for the payment of additional labor costs for the federal weatherization program, and as an incentive for the increased production of weatherized units.

Criteria for the allocation of state grants to local agencies include:

(a) existing local agency production levels,
(b) emergency needs, and
(c) the potential for maintaining or increasing acceptable levels of production in the area.

An eligible local agency may receive advance funding for 90 days' production, but thereafter shall receive grants solely on the basis of program criteria.

Subd. 5. Reports. The commissioner shall submit reports to the legislature by July 31 of each year, evaluating the weatherization program. The reports shall describe:

(a) the number of households weatherized,
(b) the average cost per household,
(c) any change in energy consumption after weatherization, and
(d) any other information the commissioner feels is relevant, including information routinely submitted to the federal government.

Subd. 6. Eligibility criteria. To the extent allowed by federal regulations, the commissioner shall ensure that the same income eligibility criteria apply to both the weatherization program and the energy assistance program.

HIST: Ex1979 c 2 s 37; 1980 c 579 s 19; 1983 c 339 s 3-5; 1984 c 640 s 32; 1Sp1985 c 14 art 9 s 75; 1987 c 403 art 2 s 132;

1989 c 282 art 1 s 18; 1989 c 338 s 7; 1994 c 483 s 1