Minnesota regulators take taxpayer-funded trip to Puerto Rico conference attended by utilities they oversee

Minnesota regulators take taxpayer-funded trip to Puerto Rico conference attended by utilities they oversee Renée Cooper KSTP Minnesota utility regulators’ trip to Puerto Rico for a conference alongside executives of companies they oversee is drawing scrutiny as they return to decisions impacting utility rates for Minnesotans. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reviewed travel records for the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) as leaders’ traveled this week to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) annual conference. The PUC said the conference was educational; critics said the optics raise concerns. After 19 years as an administrative law judge inside the utility regulatory system, Eric Lipman left the bench and now works with Utility Reform Now. He criticized that travel by PUC Chair Katie Sieben, Vice Chair Joseph Sullivan and the agency’s communications director to the conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, alongside Minnesota utility executives, including Xcel Energy leaders. “These are the moneyed interests getting close to the regulators who will decide. And that’s it. And that’s why it’s wrong,” Lipman said. What do records show? Records obtained by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS show the Puerto Rico trip cost up to $8,165. They also show commissioners and staff took 54 trips to 23 conferences and events over roughly a year and a half, with taxpayers paying $63,167 after reimbursements. “$63,000 is, I think, breathtaking for a small agency like this,” Lipman said. Lipman said he first requested the records because of frustration over rate hikes. “We wanted to make it as part of a larger point having to do with rate-making expenses,” Lipman said. Optics and public trust The attendee list for the NARUC conference shows the three Minnesota Public Utilities Commission leaders in Puerto Rico alongside consultants, attorneys, industry groups and utility executives, like Xcel Energy’s regional president, flying from Minnesota. The trip came a couple of weeks after the commission decided to let Xcel Energy raise natural gas rates for the third time since 2023. The PUC originally declined our interview request, so 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS went to a final formal hearing related to that case to seek answers from PUC leaders for this report. “You know, the utilities attend, but this is a conference for regulators,” Vice Chair Sullivan said, asked how the PUC assesses whether the educational benefits justify the expense and any potential optics concerns that come with attending a conference alongside utilities. “So why we go is just for the educational opportunities that are there,” Sullivan said. As Sullivan said, NARUC brings together state and federal regulators. Chair Sieben said participating helps commissioners learn what other states are doing. “These happen for a reason, and they should happen because if our commission doesn’t learn from others, that’s not the reality of the world we’re living in. Because we are all connected to the same grid, for example,” Sieben said. Karlee Weinmann, research and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute, said conferences like NARUC can be “expensive and exclusionary,” often tougher for the average ratepayer or their advocates to attend. Though some consumer advocacy groups do. “There’s just no venue where ratepayers have that same kind of access that industry gets at a conference like this,” Weinmann said. She said Minnesotans are frustrated by rising costs and that has led to criticism and questions about how the commission is operating with regard to Xcel. “What feels to customers like a very relentless cycle of rate increases,” Weinmann said. “So, I think that has invited a lot of criticism and questions about how the PUC is operating with regard to Xcel.” Asked if commissioners would be meeting with Xcel Energy or other utilities under active rate cases during the conference, Sieben replied, “No, we don’t. We always have to abide by the commission’s and the state’s ex parte rules.” State law bars commissioners from talking with utilities about certain things, including pending cases before the PUC, but it does not prevent other interactions. Weinmann said her concerns are based on past conduct by regulators and companies in similar settings, though she said she does not have evidence specific to Minnesota regulators breaking policy. “This sort of isn’t a manufactured concern. It’s based on past bad behavior by regulators and companies in this same venue,” Weinmann said. Xcel Energy said it also attends NARUC to learn from others and follows state rules when communicating with regulators. “As the country’s energy system evolves at a rapid pace, it’s critical that energy providers, decisionmakers and other stakeholders come together to learn from one another,” a spokesperson said in a statement responding to questions, adding, “When we interact with regulators, at a conference or anywhere else, we follow the rules each state commission sets for communications with commissioners and our company’s Code of Conduct.” “So that type of interaction that you’re suggesting takes place does not happen,” Sieben said. “Look, we’re state employees that are bound by the state’s ethical code,” Sieben added, when asked if there is enough transparency to ensure that. “I feel very confident that our five commissioners and our staff are both well trained on what our ethics laws are, and that they abide by them.” Weinmann said that requires a lot of trust from ratepayers at a time when she says public trust is low. “It’s asking a lot of people, I think, to trust that behind closed doors, at a private event that utility and data center groups pay for, where companies’ perspectives are presented to regulators in panel discussions and elsewhere, that regulators will remain like 100% above that influence,” Weinmann said. Lipman pointed again to who attended and who did not. He said ordinary Minnesota ratepayers were not represented in the same way at the conference. “No Citizens Utility Board (of Minnesota) members RSVP’d. No Energy Sense Coalition RSVP’d,” he said. “And here’s the point. There’s an old saying that if you don’t have a seat at the table, you are on the menu. Well, that’s absolutely true. Ordinary ratepayers that can’t drive to San Juan and look for themselves are on the menu.” Other state employees decide not to travel Two Minnesota Department of Commerce employees were also initially on the attendee list for the Puerto Rico conference. A spokesperson said the department ultimately decided not to send staff, citing the costs. “After reviewing the costs associated with attending, the department decided not to send staff this year,” a department spokesperson said, adding, “Commerce considers the costs and benefits of travel and conference participation as part of its responsibility to use public resources wisely.” Additional statements in response to questions The communications director for the PUC said the total $8,165 cost reflected in provided travel authorization documents for the Puerto Rico trip “is likely an overstated estimate,” adding, “Some costs for the Commissioners are paid for and/or reimbursed to the state by NARUC and the Organization of MISO States (OMS) due to their leadership positions in these organizations.” “The travel authorization documents estimate the anticipated cost of each trip and identify any amounts expected to be reimbursed by third parties,” the spokesperson wrote. “Any remaining costs are paid by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission from its budget, consistent with applicable state law and policy.” See Xcel Energy’s full statement below: “As the country’s energy system evolves at a rapid pace, it’s critical that energy providers, decisionmakers and other stakeholders come together to learn from one another. “ Collecting information from other energy providers’ experiences and policy experts from across the country