There's much to look at as the Minnesota Legislature carries on during the special session. One item about the Jobs and Energy Omnibus Bill, passed Monday morning in the Utility Dive article, Minnesota energy omnibus bill clears Legislature caught our eye. Robert Walton reports:

The Minnesota House and Senate yesterday passed a Jobs and Energy Omnibus Bill that would exempt small rural utilities from taking part in the state's Conservation Improvement Program, which offers customer incentives for high-efficiency appliances and home energy audits.

The Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota is opposed to the measure, which exempts small power companies with fewer than 5,000 members and municipal utilities with fewer than 1,000 customers.

While it's unclear if Gov. Mark Dayton (D) will sign the bill, there are reports that the governor's staff reviewed the language before lawmakers voted. He previously vetoed a version of the bill that would have eliminated a renewables development fund. Dayton has previously vetoed legislation he felt would harm the state's clean energy and conservation programs, but Minnesota Public Radio reports the governor's staff worked with lawmakers on this particular bill's language before the most recent votes. But some green advocates remain opposed, saying rural communities need access to efficiency incentives. The omnibus bill exempts small power companies from participating in the state's Conservation Improvement Program (CIP), which offers incentives to customers, including discounts on high-efficiency appliances and home energy audits. "I'm disappointed to see the CIP provision in the energy bill," Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota in a statement emailed to Utility Dive. "The rural folks we work with have been very concerned about losing access to energy conservation programs. People in small towns should have access to these programs, just like people in the cities."

If there's one thing Minnesota lawmakers tell us, they care about not leaving rural Minnesotans behind. Except when they do. Somebody's got to pay for those long-term electricity generating contracts with coal plants in the Dakotas, and it might as well be Great-Aunt Avis and her big old freezer full of last year's garden crop. Offending her sense of thrift? Roadkill in a budget deal.

One public relations expert was hoping for the best:

I live in rural MN & planning big home projects in next few yrs. I hope @ECEcoop stays with CIP! #mnleg https://t.co/3xzYXOHh02 — Maria Surma Manka (@MariaEnergia) May 23, 2017

Here's hoping her co-op has enough members so that it has to stay in the program.

For more on the bill, see Elizabeth Dunbar's report at Minnesota Public Radio,Renewable energy, consumer groups disappointed with energy bill.

Photo: Great-Aunt Avis made that 1955 Coldspot last, but now realizes its replacement is still an energy hog. Why does Pat Garofalo and his friends want to steal her rebate for a new one?

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