#1m MINNESOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OVERVIEW OF THE MINNESOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION Presentation to the Senate Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee January 19, 2021 Katie Sieben, Chair Will Seuffert, Executive Secretary#2PUC Mission The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's mission is to create and maintain a regulatory environment that ensures safe, reliable and efficient utility services at fair and reasonable rates. COMMISSION'S OBLIGATION Implement statutes as written and intended by legislature • General directive - ensure just, reasonable, nondiscriminatory rates & service (216B.03) • Numerous specific directives mn.gov/puc 2#3GENERAL AGENCY DESCRIPTION Five Member quasi-judicial decision-making board: . Appointed by the Governor, confirmed by the Minnesota Senate • Staggered six-year terms • Full-time positions • Governor names Chair Commission appoints Executive Secretary to oversee agency operations Commissioner Qualifications: • • Can't have more than three from one political party At least one from outside the Twin Cities metropolitan area Consider those learned in law, engineering, finance, utility/property valuation and generally representative of public Not a Cabinet-level agency • • Independent from Administration mn.gov/puc 3#4Decision-Making Process, and Code of Conduct Quasi-Judicial - Case-by case; every decision based solely on the record developed in the case; no ex parte communications, i.e., commissioners can't have off-the-record discussions with parties about material issues in any pending disputed case • Role of other agencies: Commerce, OAG, OAH • Role of parties: Trade Associations, clean energy organizations, consumer groups, low- income advocates, etc. . Subject to Open Meeting Law - All Commission meetings/decisions in publicly noticed open meetings • Decisions Communicated In Written Orders mn.gov/puc#5Staff & Budget 52 Staff, 5 Commissioners • Staff consists of regulatory analysts, attorneys, consumer affairs mediators, public advisor, business services, and administrative support • PUC office (and public hearing rooms) located in Metro Square building, downtown St Paul Budget • $7.772 Million per Year from the General Fund • 100% recovered and returned to General Fund through assessment process • Telephone Assistance Program (TAP) Fund administration from a special revenue fund mn.gov/puc 5#6Consumer Affairs Office ● ● ● Resolve individual complaints from utility consumers Mediation services and consumer support primarily on issues related to utility service disruptions or disconnections Responded to over 7,000 calls in 2020 CAO outreach and assistance with Cold Weather Rule, TAP enrollment, federal Lifeline program, and other related programs 1/19/2021 mn.gov/puc 6#7The Regulatory Compact The State requires public utilities to provide safe, reliable, and essential service to ratepayers In return, utilities are entitled to recover the cost to provide that service, plus a reasonable return One of the Commission's primary tasks is to determine what a reasonable cost of service is for the investor-owned utilities, and to decide how much of that cost should be paid by different customer classes mn.gov/puc 7#8Who We Regulate? ● Electricity (Investor-Owned Utilities) • Xcel, Minnesota Power, Otter Tail Power, Dakota Electric Gas (Investor-Owned Utilities) • CenterPoint, Minnesota Energy Resources, Xcel, Greater Minnesota Gas, Great Plains Telecom Regulation through alternative forms approved by legislature 1/19/2021 mn.gov/puc 8#9What we Regulate (1 of 3) Electric and Natural Gas Service ● Service quality for electric and natural gas service • Includes issues like reliability and disconnections • Rates for investor-owned utilities (and other utilities whose members choose it) • Rates must be just and reasonable, and nondiscriminatory • Must encourage conservation and renewable energy use • Resource selection (what types of resources that are used to generate power) Resources are selected to be least-cost, to prefer renewables, measure environmental and socioeconomic impacts, and ensure reliability 1/19/2021 mn.gov/puc 6#10. What we Regulate (2 of 3) Large Energy Facilities Large Energy Facilities include: · High Voltage Transmission Lines • Power Plants · · Large Wind Energy Conversion Systems Large Solar • Pipelines ● Certificate of Need . Route or site permit 1/19/2021 mn.gov/puc 10 10#11What we Regulate (3 of 3) Local Telephone Service • Local telephone companies and long-distance carriers (known as interexchange carriers, or IXCs) . Significant market transitions as people move away from traditional telephone service to cellular and VOIP Primary authority is around service quality • No longer rate regulate telephone service (subject to competition) 1/19/2021 mn.gov/puc 11#12Regional Wholesale Energy Markets and Transmission Planning All Minnesota investor-owned utilities are members of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), our region's wholesale power market and transmission organization. PUC actively participates in MISO and FERC proceedings as an individual member and as part of the Organization of MISO States (OMS) to: • protect and promote states' interests ● influence regional transmission planning and wholesale market policy Coordination with Minnesota Agencies: PUC coordinates with other state agencies (Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Commerce) as well as Minnesota utilities and other Minnesota-stakeholders to promote Minnesota's interest in wholesale energy market design and regional transmission planning. Minn. Stat. 216B.09 1/19/2021 mn.gov/puc 12 12#13COVID-19 • Commission meetings held remotely since March, 2020 ● . Commission action/workload consistent with past years COVID-19 Dockets • Customer Protections (20-374 & 20-375) • Financial Effects on Utilities (20-425 & 20-427) • COVID-19 Economic Impacts (20-492) Current information about the primary COVID-19 dockets may be found on the PUC website: https://mn.gov/puc/newsroom/covid19/ 1/19/2021 mn.gov/puc 13#14m MINNESOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION Thank You! PUC Chair Katie Sieben Executive Secretary Will Seuffert Questions? Contact Will Seuffert [email protected] 651-201-2217 mn.gov/puc