Utility CEO pay surges amid higher profits, customer struggles Investor-owned utilities paid their CEOs $622 million in 2025, lowering the bar for bonuses while customers struggled to afford bills.

Electricity bills are rising, customers are struggling, but guess who is doing just fine?

That’s right

Michigan judges often recommend slashing utility profits. It rarely happens A chunk of most utility bills goes to shareholder profits. Critics argue power and gas companies are overcharging customers by the millions, and regulators could stop it.

A chunk of most utility bills goes to shareholder profits. Critics argue power and gas companies are overcharging customers by the millions, and regulators could stop it.

A bat. Big ears, beautiful wings… the whole nine yards

It is International Bat Appreciation Day. Please take some time to appreciate a bat

FERC rejects reform, leaves customers paying for utility trade associations FERC kept rules letting utilities pass trade association political costs onto customers. Congress can step in to solve the issue.

Federal energy regulators voted yesterday to keep in place accounting rules that allow monopoly utilities to charge customers for trade association activities, including political advocacy. Congress can fix this.

This really happened.

I worked for a progressive City Council member in Frey's first term and when my boss would ask for basic details on police and the budget during Council meetings (in 2020!), the mayor would refuse and once even likened him to a baby for asking questions. Frey eventually just stopped showing up.

Unconscionable.

Regulators, legislators take up energy assistance as need rises • Minnesota Reformer The PUC and the Legislature are working on parallel tracks to make the energy assistance program more robust and work better.

Minnesota gas and electric utilities disconnected 90,433 customers in 2025. This number could be much higher this year as many Minnesotans remain in hiding. Legislators and regulators are working to bolster energy assistance programs to fill the gap. minnesotareformer.com/2026/04/14/r...

Xcel and CenterPoint say they’re doing what they can to help people in these unprecedented times. But to my knowledge neither has contributed to utility bill relief efforts even though they raked in over $3 billion in combined profits last year and both operate charitable foundations.

Xcel CEO makes $16M after customer service benchmark changed Xcel Energy’s executive bonuses increased despite increased customer complaints. Robert Frenzel’s overall pay increased 45.5%.

Xcel Energy CEO Bob Frenzel received the maximum payout for a customer satisfaction bonus in 2025 despite a sharp increase in customer complaints over the past few years www.startribune.com/xcel-ceo-pay...

Xcel CEO makes $16M after customer service benchmark changed Xcel Energy’s executive bonuses increased despite increased customer complaints. Robert Frenzel’s overall pay increased 45.5%.

Xcel Energy CEO Bob Frenzel received the maximum payout for a customer satisfaction bonus in 2025 despite a sharp increase in customer complaints over the past few years www.startribune.com/xcel-ceo-pay...

In a new short documentary, Zeteo returned to the Twin Cities to see how Operation Metro Surge is still affecting Minnesotans.

Watch the full film: zeteo.com/p/donald-tru...

The 28th Virginia battle flag is a Confederate battle flag that belonged to the 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment. Captured by the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg, the flag was brought to Minnesota and exhibited at the state's capitol for several years before passing into the permanent collection of the Minnesota Historical Society after 1896 where it has remained since.

Happy Confederate Surrender Day from Minnesota where we still have your goddamn flag and we’re not giving it up.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28th_Vi...

PHOTO ESSAY: In a corner of Appalachia, soaring utility costs are surpassing rents and mortgages WEST COLUMBIA, W.Va. (AP) — Eric Pinson is obsessed with stacks of electric bills laid out in neat piles on his desk.

“Rebecca Michalski, who’s disabled, was forced to take out a loan this winter to pay her electric bill due to high heating costs. Her February charge was $940.08 — more than her fixed income and mortgage.” She's still behind on her utility bills. Just devastating. apnews.com/photo-essay/...

It's really striking, even for those of us who live here. The signs truly are all over *every single block*

As ICE detains parents, children take on adult burdens When ICE detains parents, children take on adult roles and face lasting trauma. Minnesota families share how they cope with separation and fear.

Thousands of children have been separated from one or both parents amid heightened immigration enforcement in Minnesota and nationwide. The impact, from immediate adult responsibilities to chronic stress, is lasting, therapists say.

By @bzosiad.bsky.social

everything we are seeing now is the consequence of having a political environment in which indifference to the deaths and suffering of other people - even by the state whose supposed responsibility is to safeguard their welfare - is a superpower rather than a political liability

Newly Obtained Video of Minneapolis Shooting Undermines ICE Account

Remember when DHS agents had no choice but to shoot two Venezuelan men because the men had attacked them with a snow shovel and a broomstick?

New video shows they were lying about that one, too.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/u...

Feds to close Grand Rapids lab that does global-leading research on forestry, climate change The Trump administration plans to close two northern Minnesota U.S. Forest Service research facilities, including one in Grand Rapids that led globally recognized research on the impacts of climate ch...

The Trump administration plans to close two northern Minnesota U.S. Forest Service research facilities, including one in Grand Rapids that led globally recognized research on the impacts of climate change on forests and peatlands.

Half of those arrested by federal agents in Minnesota this winter have already been deported The federal government moved at a rapid pace to deport nearly 1,700 people picked up during a surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota this winter, according to data analyzed by APM Reports and M...

This is a multigenerational sin that isn’t really reparable

Half of those arrested by federal agents in Minnesota this winter have already been deported The federal government moved at a rapid pace to deport nearly 1,700 people picked up during a surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota this winter, according to data analyzed by APM Reports and M...

Of those who were deported from Minnesota, about 45 percent were labeled as collateral arrests, meaning federal agents encountered them in a public place or during an operation targeting another person, rather than targeting them explicitly. (5) www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

We're hiring a public records counsel to join our amazing team at EPI. Come help us expose how monopoly utilities and fossil fuel companies are hurting people and help us build momentum for change. energyandpolicy.org/public-recor...

Roosevelt staffer recounts being tackled, choked by Border Patrol Roosevelt High School staffer Quentin Williams recounts being tackled by Border Patrol agents in south Minneapolis on January 7.

🧵What's it like in Minnesota now? To me, it feels like we're in the re-witnessing phase of the occupation, where local reporters do the hard, necessary work of telling us in detail what we saw in terrified flashes three months ago. Every day, there's a story like this. 1/2

Are you an attorney who cares about climate change, environmental justice, democracy, and corruption? Come work with us at the Energy and Policy Institute! energyandpolicy.org/public-recor...

Xcel wants costly bill rider made permanent, prompting calls for greater oversight Xcel Energy is lobbying for a controversial Minnesota bill rider that has contributed to rising costs for customers.

Xcel Energy is lobbying Minnesota lawmakers to make permanent a controversial program that enables it to charge customers hundreds of millions of dollars for fossil fuel infrastructure upgrades without standard regulatory review energyandpolicy.org/xcel-guic-pi...

Springsteen: Well, this past winter federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis. They picked the wrong city. Your strength and your commitment told us that this is still America. And this reactionary nightmare and these invasions of American cities will not stand.

UMN student detained by ICE in January still in detention Editor’s note: This story contains a detailed description of an ICE apprehension involving violence and distressed individuals.  For Edwin Toalombo, studying at the University of Minnesota was a dream...

Holy shit, every single aspect of this story is so tremendously infuriating. How many of these kids are there, forced to suffer?

Detained by ICE, he missed multiple cancer treatments. Now he’s in hospice. Some immigrants with chronic health problems were swept up by ICE in Minnesota, leading to missed medications and, for one man, missed chemotherapy sessions.

Some immigrants with chronic health problems were swept up by ICE in Minnesota, leading to missed medications and, for one man, missed chemotherapy sessions.

Four portraits of Minnesota residents inside and outside their homes. From left to right: A woman in a hijab, an older woman wearing a red whistle, an elderly couple in winter coats standing in the snow, and a woman wearing a buttoned-up cardigan and dark blue jeans.

The news has moved on, but ICE is still in Minneapolis.

My neighbors are still patrolling streets, driving strangers to work, and providing aid. As a photojournalist at @propublica.org, I wanted to know: What do they look like in their daily lives?

So I picked up my camera 👇