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com July 24, 2013 For Immediate Release

Minneapolis Residents Overwhelmingly Oppose Referendum Authorizing A City Takeover of Electric and Gas Utilities
Large majority prefer City and utilities work together to meet energy goals MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. Minneapolis residents are satisfied with their current electric and gas utilities, and oppose a plan to replace Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy with city-owned utilities. These results were part of a public opinion survey of likely voters released today by the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. By a margin of 64 percent to 33 percent, likely voters oppose a referendum creating a city-owned utility. Onequarter of likely voters strongly oppose the referendum, with only three percent strongly in support. Minneapolis already receives nearly half of its electricity from carbon-free sources, and this survey shows that there is a great deal of confidence in our current utilities to continue help the community meet future energy goals, said Todd Klingel, president & CEO, Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. This matches up with what I have been hearing in my conversations with our members, labor leaders and community groups across Minneapolis. They believe the current partnerships with our utilities are working and do not want to risk abandoning those relationships in favor of a city-owned and operated utility. Residents were also asked their opinion on the best energy strategy for the future. Forty-three percent want to see Minneapolis complete its Energy Pathways Study and then work together with the current utilities to achieve its energy goals. Forty-two percent believe the City should spend less time on energy issues and shift its attention to other concerns. Only 12 percent agreed the City should move quickly to take more control over energy companies, such as buying them and operating them as city-owned utilities. The Minneapolis City Council has scheduled public hearings for August 1 that could lead to a vote to ask voters to authorize city-owned utilities. By a margin of 59 percent to 38 percent, survey respondents oppose spending the public money needed to buy the existing assets of the current utilities, a step required by state law. When informed that the cost of this purchase could exceed $2 billion, an overwhelming 77 percent of residents said having to spend that amount of money made them less likely to believe a city-owned utility is a good idea. Residents in the survey were satisfied with the current direction of Minneapolis on energy issues. Ninety-three percent believe that Minneapolis is a healthy place to live, and 71 percent agree the Energy Pathways Study is a good investment.

This study is a good first step to examine options for fulfilling the Citys Climate Action Plan, said Klingel. Given the strong public sentiments on the issue of city-owned utilities, I hope the City Council sits down with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy and works cooperatively to develop the best plan to help Minneapolis achieve its energy goals. Methodology This study contains the results of a survey administered to 403 randomly selected likely voters across the City of Minneapolis. Decision Resources, Ltd. of Minneapolis conducted the survey by telephone between July 9 and 19, 2013. The results of the study are projectable to all likely voters in Minneapolis to within 5.0 percentage points in 95 out of 100 cases. ### The Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1881 and works to create strong partnerships to unite and grow member businesses in the Twin Cities. The Chamber and its two affiliates, the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and Northeast Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, serve 1,500 businesses in the 11county metro area and focuses on public policy, economic development and member services. More information about the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce is available at www.minneapolischamber.org.