‘Watershed’ Climate and Energy Agreement Between CenterPoint Energy and City of Minneapolis

Date: 25 Jul 2013 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States, Press Release | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Minneapolis MN (July 25, 2013) – In a groundbreaking agreement announced yesterday, the gas utility serving Minneapolis – CenterPoint Energy – will work with the city of Minneapolis to achieve a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.  The agreement, negotiated with the grassroots campaign Minneapolis Energy Options, secures the support of the gas utility for a variety of measures intended to advance clean, affordable, and local energy.

The memorandum of understanding, signed ahead of the city’s franchise contract renegotiations with CenterPoint next year, includes efforts to maximize the impact of the utility’s state-mandated conservation program, track building energy use and methane leakage, cultivate renewable heat technologies, and improve equity in training and hiring.

“It’s a watershed moment for natural gas utilities and for cities,” remarked John Farrell, director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Democratic Energy program and chair of the Minneapolis Energy Options steering committee.   “It’s a model for cities across U.S. to take charge of their energy future, and it was only possible with a committed grassroots campaign.”

For the past year, Minneapolis Energy Options has been pressuring the city council to put municipalization of gas and electric utilities on the ballot in the fall of 2013.  Already the campaign’s efforts goaded the city to finance a $250,000 Energy Pathways Study, meant to explore the strategies for meeting the city’s climate, renewable energy, and economic goals, up to and including municipally owned utilities.

With yesterday’s signed memo with CenterPoint, pressure falls on the city’s electric utility – Xcel Energy – to step up.  Xcel has already suffered a defeat at the polls in Boulder, CO, in 2011 to take a municipal grid public, largely because of its failure to make a similar commitment to local renewable energy generation and conservation.

The Minneapolis city council will hear arguments on the municipal ballot measure, intended to target both utilities, on August 1st.  For now, it appears that only one utility is still in the crosshairs, with a chance to show its commitment to a local, clean energy future.

For interviews or more information, contact John Farrell at jfarrell@ilsr.org

Photo credit: Takver

Facebooktwitterredditmail
Avatar photo
Follow John Farrell:
John Farrell

John Farrell directs the Energy Democracy initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and he develops tools that allow communities to take charge of their energy future, and pursue the maximum economic benefits of the transition to 100% renewable power.