A small Minnesota town is moving to oust Xcel Energy and form its own government-run electric provider. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
The 2,000-person town of Slayton says Xcel neglects local infrastructure and takes hours to respond to outages. Nearly 75% of voters approved a plan to buy Xcel’s poles, wires, and substations and contract operations to Nobles Cooperative Electric, which has crews based in town.
It’s a high-stakes gamble: Xcel estimates the cost of its lost revenue at $20M, while the town says it’s close to $7M (the PUC ultimately makes the call). Worth noting? Other cities like Boulder, CO, and Minneapolis, MN, have abandoned similar bids after costs ballooned.