Residential customers to pay for Minn miners corporate welfare
MPRNews
New law offers utility rate cuts for big business
Residential customers in northern Minnesota will have to pay more in electricity rates because of a change the Legislature made last week to help big business.
Gov. Mark Dayton signed a broad jobs and energy budget bill that gives a rate break to mining companies, papers mills and steel mills.
The new law allows major industrial customers in northern Minnesota to apply for a break in their electricity rates. It aims to help lower energy costs for companies competing in a global marketplace, among them the taconite mines on the Iron Range.
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"You know, maybe this is something that will actually help save the industry and the jobs we have," Tomassoni said.
But to pay for the break for industrial companies, residents and smaller businesses will be forced to pay more. State Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, said he didn't object to helping out steel and paper companies but worries that the way the law is written, other companies could also take advantage of it. He said that means higher rates for everyone else.
"When you're talking about utility rates, if you're bringing down one customer's rates, you're bringing it up for someone else," Marty said. "In this case, we're bringing down electric rates for the biggest customers and we're bringing it up for residents, for homeowners, for renters [and] small businesses. They're going to be paying more, perhaps significantly more."
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http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/06/17/energy-rates
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