The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission establishes workgroups to investigate utility regulation matters that need more record development or ongoing discussions of various issues.
Below is a list of current work groups that are active. The Commission is currently seeking members for the PGUW, IDP Improvements, and DER Cost Sharing work groups. Select the tabs below to learn more.
The DGAG was created by the Commission in October 2017. The Commission asked the DGAG to focus on resolving issues related to distributed energy resources (DER) before those issues escalated to customer complaints. The issues range from patterns identified in customer complaints, lessons learned and emerging issues in DER integration, improvements to Commission services (e.g., dispute resolution, annual reporting forms, confidentiality, and privacy issues).
Central to the success of the DGAG is participation by stakeholder groups that have valuable insights to share on DER issues. The group maintains a space for dialogue between the Commission and stakeholders, including utilities, state agencies, advocates, and developers. Members of this group serve at the invitation of the Commission’s Chair. Members can bring issues raised by their constituents to the group and then report back solutions. Currently the group meets on an as needed basis and the Commission sends out quarterly updates to workgroup members.
The DGWG was established in January 2017 to facilitate the process of establishing new Minnesota Interconnection Standards which it achieved in the formulation of the Technical Interconnection and Interoperability Requirements (TIIR) in early 2020. The DGWG is run by the PUC and consists of representatives from regulated utilities, municipalities, cooperatives, Distributed Energy Resource (DER) developers, as well as national interest groups like IREC and EPRI.
The DGWG works to facilitate discussion and collaboration on current and future interconnection issues and opportunities in a more efficient and direct way than through bringing issues through the formal Notice of Comment and Agenda Meeting process. Issues can be highly technical in nature, or more economic and policy oriented. Periodically, the DGWG will create Subgroups to tackle specific issues which can then be reported to group at large.
The PUC established the Thermal Energy Network Deployment Work Group to examine the potential regulatory opportunities for regulated natural gas utilities to deploy thermal energy networks. Also, the work group will look at the potential barriers to development while taking into consideration the public benefits, costs, impact of deployment of thermal energy networks, and rate design options.
Xcel Energy’s 2023 Integrated Distribution Plan (IDP) contained many pieces of information related to the distribution grid. Specifically, the IDP included a forecast of necessary distribution upgrades to comply with various state statutes, an evaluation of how to reduce the cost of those upgrades using advanced technologies, and a discussion of potential cost allocation options. Xcel’s 2023 IDP also included a discussion of potential methods of cost allocation for distribution grid upgrades. Commenters in Xcel’s IDP docket generally agreed that more information was necessary before taking further action. The Commission agreed, and adopted Order Point 14 in its September 16, 2024 Order in Docket E002/M-23-452.
The Commission accepted Dakota Electric Association, Minnesota Power, Otter Tail Power Company, and Xcel Energy’s 2023 Integrated Distribution Plans (IDPs) in September 2024. In its review of utility IDPs, the Commission delegated authority to the Executive Secretary to convene working groups to develop various improvements ahead of the next utility IDP filings on November 1, 2025.
The three workgroups include:
IDP Budget Category Amendments
IDP Filing Requirements for Electrification
Distribution Data Reporting Requirements
For information about how to get involved, please see the notice.
DER Cost Sharing Workgroup
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (Commission) established the DER Cost Sharing Workgroup to develop standards for distribution system cost sharing for interconnection in constrained areas. The Commission did so in accordance with Minnesota Session Laws – 2024, Regular Session, Chapter 126, Article 6, Section 53. The Commission also opened docket CI-24-288.
Disclaimer: This webpage is intended as an informational-only, general overview of some key Minnesota statutes, rules and Commission Orders related to customer-sited distributed generation. The information on this page does not represent a Commission interpretation of said statutes, rules and orders.
