Energy bills in Minneapolis could get more expensive if a push by some council members to increase funding for climate projects gets approved — the move is sought after learning that a plan to fund climate projects is falling short of its goals. 

“We can’t move fast enough on climate action,” Katie Cashman, Minneapolis City Council member, said. 

Cashman, alongside Council member Emily Koski and Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai, are seeking to increase the city’s residential and commercial franchise fees connected to Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy bills. 

“There are multiple categories of customers and so adjusting those customers to do it in the most equitable way that does make the bigger customers, and the bigger polluters pay, that’s the main principle here, but doesn’t overburden the residential households,” Cashman said. 

Adding an exact increase will be discussed in the coming days. 

The last increase to this fee came in 2023 to help tackle the city’s lofty climate action goals, which aim for the city to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Then, the city said it cost on average a dollar more a month on people’s bills — Cashman hopes this round of hikes would be the same or less. 

But so far, it’s not bringing in as much money as expected — city documents show last year, only $8.4 million of the planned $10 million rolled in. It also says in part, “Annual franchise fee revenue is highly variable based on consumer demand and industry factors.”

Cashman stood by her proposal when questioned if this is the right path to get the needed funds. 

“The way that this works is that it incentivizes reducing your energy use,” Cashman said. “So you pay less if you use less energy.”

This will likely be discussed in the next Climate and Infrastructure Committee meeting — council member Michael Rainville sits on that committee and tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he has a lot of unanswered questions that need to be addressed before supporting this. 

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