Notice to small power producers and cogenerators
In compliance with Minnesota Adopted Rules Relating to Cogeneration and Small Power Production, Chapter 7835, East Central Energy is required to interconnect with and purchase electricity from cogenerators and small power producers which satisfy the conditions of a Qualifying Facility.
East Central Energy will provide free information to all interested members regarding rates and interconnection requirements. An application for interconnection is required for a Qualifying Facility to interconnect and operate in parallel with the cooperative’s distribution system and is subject to approval by the cooperative.
Members interested in further information should contact East Central Energy at 1-800-254-7944.
Board adopts local authority resolution
At its September 15, 2017 meeting, your electric cooperative board of directors moved to adopt a local authority resolution and rules implementing the section of Minnesota Statute 216B.164 that applies to distributed generation.
During the 2017 legislative session, the Minnesota Legislature passed and the Governor signed a provision that reduces duplicate regulation on your electric cooperative. This local democracy legislation returns some balance to the regulatory process, ensuring decisions that impact member-owners of cooperatives are made locally by your elected board of directors. While electric cooperatives are already locally regulated in most areas, this legislation made an important clarification, one that will allow for innovation in response to member’s needs and wants for years to come.
The legislation impacts the distributed generation section of statute and brings it in line with the rest of Minnesota Statute as it applies to rates, fees and charges of electric cooperatives. Electric cooperatives still must follow the law as laid out by the legislature in this section. The provision that the legislature recently passed and the Governor signed allows for cooperatives to adopt the authority implementing this section of statute (Minnesota Statute 216B.164). To do so, a cooperative had to pass a resolution adopting this authority and adopt rules implementing this section of statute.
The municipal utilities in Minnesota have had similar authority for over 30 years. With the passage of the provision, the legislature affirmed the value of local decision making for rural electric cooperatives across Minnesota. As your locally-owned cooperative, we know that local decision making can result in rates and services that reflect our community’s needs while assisting in keeping administrative costs down.
ECE Adopted Cooperative Cogeneration Rules 216B.164 (PDF)
ECE Adopted Cooperative Cogeneration Rules 216B.164 (Word document)