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Utility Regulation
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulates three cornerstone service industries in Minnesota's economy, i.e., electricity, natural gas, and telephone. It is the Commission's responsibility to ensure that vendors of these services provide safe, adequate, and reliable service at fair, reasonable rates (M.S. Chapters 216A, 216B, 216E, 216F, 216G and 237).
The PUC employs three primary strategies to accomplish this regulation:
- Providing disciplined decision-making for resolving party-to-party disputes and establishing broad industry policies
- Providing a public forum for examination of policies pertaining to regulated industries
- Conducting investigations, holding hearings, prescribing rules and issuing orders regarding the provision of utility and telephone services
The primary duties of the PUC regarding the regulation of telecommunications:
- Approving rates and regulation of service quality for large local exchange carriers (e. g., Qwest)
- Reviewing rates upon complaint and setting service quality standards for independent, municipal and cooperative carriers (of which there are more than 100)
- Certifying and regulating service quality for long distance carriers (e.g., ATT, MCI and hundreds more)
- Arbitrating interconnection contracts under the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996
- Administering the extended area service process
- Rule-making to guide the transition to deregulated market
- Approving alternative regulatory plans (e.g., price cap plans)
- Approving mergers and sales of exchanges
- Setting surcharges for various specialized programs; e.g., Telecommunications for Communications-Impaired Persons and the Telephone Assistance Program
- Administering the Link Up America program for Minnesota
- Approving 911 plans and cost recoveries
- Mediating consumer complaints
The primary duties of the PUC regarding the regulation of energy:
- Approving rates and regulation of service quality for large electric and natural gas companies
- Approving resource plans for large electric utilities, including consideration of environmental affects of energy use
- Granting Certificates of Need for large energy facilities, including power plants and transmission lines
- Establishing depreciation and accounting procedures for electric and natural gas utilities
- Approving appropriate financial incentives for energy conservation
- Serving as board of appeals for the Conservation Improvement Program
- Setting appropriate incentives for gas purchasing programs
- Encouraging and approving co-generation and small power generation resources
- Handling complaints related to stray voltage and currents in the earth; has included a large study by an independent board of scientific advisors
- Approving mergers, acquisitions and transactions between affiliates
- Approving securities issuances, stock purchases and other major financial transactions with rate impacts
- Administering assigned service areas
- Administering Cold Weather Shut-off laws
- Mediating consumer complaints
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