ROCHESTER – Federal tariffs and higher-than-expected contract costs for renewable energy sources have local utilities officials in a bind: Do they push the added expenses onto residents, or do they push back the city’s much touted sustainability goal?
Rochester Public Utilities plan to gauge community interest in moving back its timeline to have 100% net renewable energy by 2030, allowing renewable energy sources to cover Rochester’s energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions.
To accomplish that, residents would have to eat a 6% electric rate increase next year, and likely weather similar increases through the end of this decade. Or residents can have an average of a 4% rate increase for the next few years, and Rochester likely won’t get to hit its renewable energy goals until 2040.
“We’re trying to frame customer research as ‘Should we stay the course at higher expense for earlier environmental benefit … or should we follow Minnesota’s carbon-free standard at slightly less short-term costs?’” said Tim McCollough, general manager at Rochester Public Utilities.
If Rochester chooses to delay its renewable energy timeline, it would mean a significant shift in vision the city had planned for the better part of a decade. It would also mean losing the city’s place among communities in adopting sustainable energy practices amid Minnesota’s push to get carbon-free energy production statewide by 2040.
Minneapolis and St. Paul have committed to 100% net renewable energy by 2030, while Moorhead’s electrical system met its 100% renewable energy goal in 2021. Other communities like Hibbing are striving to meet energy goals through wood-burning and other biomass sources, though it’s unclear whether the state counts that as carbon-free.
In 2015 then-Mayor Ardell Brede announced Rochester would seek to become energy net-zero by 2031, though utilities officials would later aim for a year earlier. The proclamation positioned the city as an early adopter in community climate change efforts.
Despite progress, including a 2019 pledge from Rochester Public Utilities to transition its electricity to 100% renewable resources, the city remains a ways from becoming carbon-free.