Minnesotans are facing calamitous price increases that could create a serious economic impact in our state due to the polar vortex in February. On Thursday, the Senate passed a timely bill to provide immediate loan support to municipal utilities in order to protect ratepayers from seeing massive utility spikes next month. 

“Rural areas are going to be impacted by these price hikes most,” Senator Gene Dornink (R-Hayfield) said Thursday. “Without immediate legislative action, municipal utility companies will be forced to pass on these fees to their customers. Consumers could see hundreds of dollars added to their bills and may be unable to pay. We can’t leave Minnesotans out in the cold. We need to help our state recover from this.” 

Municipal utilities are non-profit entities that do not have the capacity to carry the burden of the kind of price increase in the natural gas market. The bill will provide loans to municipal entities in order to spread the cost out over five years, without shifting the burden to consumers.