Minnesota electricity bills have surged 61% between 2005 and 2025, even as electricity use per customer dropped 17% since 2008, according to a new report from the Center of the American Experiment analyzing Energy Information Administration data. The report concludes that unaffordable electricity in Minnesota was not an accident but a deliberate policy outcome, driven primarily by renewable energy mandates that began earlier and ramped up faster than in most other states.
The numbers paint a stark picture of rising costs and falling consumption. Minnesota's average electricity price jumped 118% from 2002 to 2025, climbing from 5.80 cents per kilowatt-hour to 12.67 cents, according to the report's analysis. That's 22 percentage points more than the Midwest's 96% increase and 29 points higher than the national 89% rise over the same period. Meanwhile, electricity use per customer in Minnesota grew 25% between 1984 and 2007, then reversed course sharply, shrinking 17% from 2008 to 2025. The average Minnesota customer used 26,876 kilowatt-hours in 2008 but only 22,375 in 2025. By comparison, Midwest usage fell just 7.1% and national usage dropped 5.3% over the same timeframe. Average annual bills for Minnesota customers rose from $1,764 in 2005 to $2,834 in 2025, a 61% jump, while Midwest bills increased 74% and national bills climbed 56%.
The report identifies renewable energy mandates as "the main cause of electricity unaffordability" in Minnesota, calling it "a myth that renewables are cheaper than coal, natural gas or nuclear." The authors argue that wind and solar are "far more expensive" both directly through unreliable power generation and indirectly through expanded network capacity requirements. The report states that the Public Utilities Commission system serves as "the key means for electricity unaffordability, where the rubber (of higher prices and lower use) meets the road (of bigger bills and increasing unaffordability)." The authors describe this system as having three legs: state government, franchise monopolies, and renewable lobbyists.
The report frames Minnesota's electricity crisis as intentional policy rather than unintended consequence, noting that high prices eventually choke off usage and create energy poverty. The authors write that making electricity affordable again will require "serious reform of, not just the wind and solar mandates, but of the PUC and monopoly mandates as well," while warning such reform "will not be easy because unaffordable electricity is not just the means but the ends." The report closes by invoking a 2008 statement from then-Senator Barack Obama: "Under my plan … electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." Minnesota's numbers suggest that plan is working exactly as designed.