YOUR LAST

PRINT EDITION!

MUI

Day at the Capitol

Thursday, April 12NEW! Select the schedule

that fits you best!

Register now!

See page 2 for details.

A POSITIVE, CREDIBLE AND INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR MINNESOTA UTILITY INVESTORS

On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law H.R. 1—115th Congress the 2017 Federal Tax Act.

This Tax Act contains a number of provisions that may affect public utility revenue requirements, rates, and services. Among many other provisions, the Act significantly lowers the federal corporate tax rates (it is reduced from 35% to 21%).

Tom Kuhn, Edison Electric Institute (EEI) President, called the “tax reform bill a major ‘win’ for the industry and its customers, while noting that there is still ‘significant work’ in implementing the law.”

It will take time to determine the tax bill’s benefits and several months before the effects are felt. Each utility is unique and the tax provisions impact each of them and their customers differently which will require policy makers to

take that into consideration as they implement changes.

Of concern, all three major credit rating agencies (S&P, Moody’s & Fitch) have published a utility sector report commenting on the potential negative impacts of tax reform for the industry.

Credit rating agencies cite the importance of constructive regulatory relationships in order to mitigate negative credit impacts.

In Minnesota—Regulatory and Legislative DiscussionWhich is why the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued its Notice of Commission Investigation into the Effect of the 2017 Federal Tax Act on Utility Rates and Services. The PUC has ordered all investor-owned utilities to file comments on their preliminary estimates of the effect of the new, lower federal income tax rate and the effect of all other aspects of the 2017 Federal Tax Act.

This discussion and scrutiny with the PUC and other regulators will be ongoing for several months. Again, each rate-regulated utility is impacted differently by the new Tax Act and the PUC should take this into consideration as they deliberate the Tax Act provisions.

On the legislative side, legislation is expected to be introduced by Rep. Nolan West in the MN House that will require investor-owned utilities to refund and reduce monthly bills resulting from the Tax Act. This bill will likely be heard in the House Job Growth and Energy Affordability Policy and Finance Committee. At that time, each company should have the opportunity to discuss the impact the new tax provisions will have on them.

This will be an ongoing legislative and regulatory issue over the next few months. G

Federal Tax BillUncertain Implications for Minnesota's Regulated Utilities, their Shareholders and Customers

In yourInterestIn this issueDay at the Capitol Info 2

Day at the Capitol Preview Meeting Schedule 3

News Brief: Tariff on Solar Panel Imports 3

A Closer Look at a Supporting Membership 4–5

Did You Know 6–7

Summer Tour Schedule 7

Membership Form 8

MARCH 2018

VOL. 28 NO. 1

In your INTERESTMARCH 20182

Thursday, April 12, 2018 • 9:45 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Register online at www.mnutilityinvestors.org, or call 651-227-7902 or 1-888-850-5171.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: is Friday, March 23rd.

Make a difference!

NEW in 2018! Select the afternoon schedule track that suits you best.

SCHEDULE MORNING SCHEDULE

9:45 a.m. Registration

10:30 a.m. Program

11:00 a.m. Lunch

11:45 a.m. Shuttle to State Capitol Complex

EDUCATIONAL TRACK

New track to ease members into one-on-one meetings with Legislators.

12:15–2:30 p.m. Educational Track Schedule

ADVOCACY TRACK

Traditional track for members who are comfortable meeting directly with Legislators.

12:15–2:30 p.m. Advocacy Track Schedule

Includes: 1/2 hour Optional Capitol Tour Seminar: In-depth Issue Discussion Seminar: Legislators want to hear from YOU!

Includes: Meet with your Legislators 1/2 hour Optional Capitol Tour Meet with Legislative Leadership

NEW!Two

afternoontracks!

Same location as last year

LOCATION DoubleTree St. Paul East 2201 Burns Avenue St. Paul, MN

REGISTRATION FEE FREE for Supporting Members! $20 per attendee for General Members General members must pay prior to the event with credit card or check.

TRANSPORTATION MOTOR COACH transportation to the event is available from the following locations:

JOIN US!

Alexandria Baxter Bloomington Brooklyn Center Cloquet Duluth Eden Prairie Fergus Falls

Hinckley Lakeville Little Falls Mankato Rochester South St. Paul St. Cloud Vadnais Heights

Lunch is included Thank you bag for attendees Shuttle to and from Capitol Door prizes!

VOL. 28 NO. 1 3

Mark Your Calendar

MUI Day at the Capitol Preview Meetings are open to all General and Supporting Members. This is your chance to learn about the legislative process, issues impacting your utility investment and ask questions about MUI Day at the Capitol.

If you are unable to attend the Meeting in your area, you are welcome to attend an alternative MUI Local Member Meeting. Reservations are required. Please contact the MUI office for details and to register for the meeting. G

Trump issues 30% tariff on solar panel imports• The Trump administration issued a decision on a high-

profile trade case, imposing 30% tariffs on imported crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and cells. The first 2.5 GW of cell imports of every year are excluded, according to the press release, which offered no details on whether or not some countries are exempt from the tariffs. Implementation starts in 15 days.

• The tariffs will decline in 5% increments over a four-year span, ending at 15% by 2022. The decision draws from one of the three separate recommendations issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission last year in a rare Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 proceeding, and excludes a floor price and quotas recommended by two United States-based solar manufacturers last year.

• According to GTM Research, a 30% tariff pencils out to roughly $0.10-$0.15/watt, which could reduce utility-scale solar installations by 9%. Trump's decision

will likely mean the demise of the petitioners, Suniva and SolarWorld. Both companies told Utility Dive that without their proposed duties, which are markedly higher than the final decision, they would likely fold. However, these tariffs would benefit domestic thin film manufacturer First Solar, who came out in support of tariffs last year.

SOURCE: UtilityDIVE, January 22, 2018 G

MUI Day at the Capitol Preview Meetings Schedule

DATE TIME LOCATION

Thu, March 8 11:30 am Rochester

Mon, March 12 11:30 am St. Paul

Tue, March 13 11:30 am NorthEast Metro

Tue, March 13 3:00 pm Woodbury

Wed, March 14 11:30 am Bloomington

Thu, March 15 11:30 am St. Cloud

Mon, March 19 11:30 am Fergus Falls

DATE TIME LOCATION

Mon, March 19 3:00 pm Alexandria

Wed, March 21 11:30 am Mankato

Wed, March 21 3:30 pm Albert Lea

Tue, March 27 11:30 am Duluth

Wed, March 28 11:30 am Baxter

Thu, March 29 11:30 am West Metro

Thu, April 12 MUI Day at the Capitol

FEE: $5 per person to attend these meetings. OR become an MUI Supporting Member and attend for free. See back page for details.

News Brief

In your INTERESTMARCH 20184

This is your LAST PRINT EDITION of In your INTEREST

Due to changes in our service model MUI has made a policy decision to stop distributing our paper newsletter to General Members.

Also new in 2018, for General Members there will be fees assessed to attend ANY MUI event including the Annual Meeting AND Day at the Capitol. General Members are welcome to attend events but they will need to pay in advance for all of these meetings. Print invitations for our events will be replaced by electronic options for General Members as well.

We hope you consider becoming an MUI Supporting Member.

To receive the June edition of this newsletter in print you will need to join as a Supporting Member by Friday, May 18, 2018.

To become a Supporting Member, simply complete the application on the back page and return with payment or call us to learn more 651-227-7902 or 888-850-5171.

What Supporting Membership offers your household: • FREE Meeting Attendance to ALL of our meetings for your household

(valued well above the cost of an annual membership!)• FREE Edward Jones Selected Utility Data Chart updated annually• Opportunities to go on Exclusive MUI Member Energy Plant Tours• Quarterly Print Newsletter delivered to your home• Print invitations for all MUI events and opportunities

Supporting Membership costTo have access to these convenient resources and opportunities your household can join MUI as a Supporting Member for just $20 annually or $50 for 3 years.

To become a Supporting Member simply complete the application on the back of this newsletter and return with payment or join with a credit card by calling MUI at 1-888-850-5171 or 651-227-7902.

*email required. **slots are determined via phone in registrations during a specific period

MUI BENEFITCOSTS TO PARTICIPATE PER PERSON

Supporting Member Household General Members

Local Member Meetings (3 opportunities offered Annually) FREE $5 per person per event

Day at the Capitol (transportation included) FREE $20 per person

Annual Meeting (transportation included) FREE $25 per person

Quarterly Print Newsletter FREE NOT ELIGIBLE

Weekly Monday e-Newsletter* FREE FREE

Summer Energy Tours** FREE NOT ELIGIBLE

Edward Jones Selected Utility Data Chart (in March newsletter) FREE NOT ELIGIBLE

*Chart compiled courtesy of Edward Jones.

Numbers speak volumes!This chart alone is well worth the cost of annual membership, but in case you aren’t convinced, here are some numbers detailing what you can SAVE, AND RECEIVE as a Supporting Member! Join for just $20—the BENEFITS far outweigh the INVESTMENT! Just entry fees for one person per event are TRIPLE the cost of Annual Dues for a household!

VOL. 28 NO. 1 5

This is your LAST PRINT EDITION of In your INTEREST

Due to changes in our service model MUI has made a policy decision to stop distributing our paper newsletter to General Members.

Also new in 2018, for General Members there will be fees assessed to attend ANY MUI event including the Annual Meeting AND Day at the Capitol. General Members are welcome to attend events but they will need to pay in advance for all of these meetings. Print invitations for our events will be replaced by electronic options for General Members as well.

We hope you consider becoming an MUI Supporting Member.

To receive the June edition of this newsletter in print you will need to join as a Supporting Member by Friday, May 18, 2018.

To become a Supporting Member, simply complete the application on the back page and return with payment or call us to learn more 651-227-7902 or 888-850-5171.

What Supporting Membership offers your household: • FREE Meeting Attendance to ALL of our meetings for your household

(valued well above the cost of an annual membership!)• FREE Edward Jones Selected Utility Data Chart updated annually• Opportunities to go on Exclusive MUI Member Energy Plant Tours• Quarterly Print Newsletter delivered to your home• Print invitations for all MUI events and opportunities

Supporting Membership costTo have access to these convenient resources and opportunities your household can join MUI as a Supporting Member for just $20 annually or $50 for 3 years.

To become a Supporting Member simply complete the application on the back of this newsletter and return with payment or join with a credit card by calling MUI at 1-888-850-5171 or 651-227-7902.

*email required. **slots are determined via phone in registrations during a specific period

MUI BENEFITCOSTS TO PARTICIPATE PER PERSON

Supporting Member Household General Members

Local Member Meetings (3 opportunities offered Annually) FREE $5 per person per event

Day at the Capitol (transportation included) FREE $20 per person

Annual Meeting (transportation included) FREE $25 per person

Quarterly Print Newsletter FREE NOT ELIGIBLE

Weekly Monday e-Newsletter* FREE FREE

Summer Energy Tours** FREE NOT ELIGIBLE

Edward Jones Selected Utility Data Chart (in March newsletter) FREE NOT ELIGIBLE

*Chart compiled courtesy of Edward Jones.

Numbers speak volumes!This chart alone is well worth the cost of annual membership, but in case you aren’t convinced, here are some numbers detailing what you can SAVE, AND RECEIVE as a Supporting Member! Join for just $20—the BENEFITS far outweigh the INVESTMENT! Just entry fees for one person per event are TRIPLE the cost of Annual Dues for a household!

In your INTERESTMARCH 20186

Did You Know?

ALLETE Inc.ALLETE Clean Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ALLETE Inc. (NYSE: ALE), recently announced a 40-megawatt purchase of wind turbines from GE Renewable Energy (NYSE: GE). The turbines qualify for 80 percent of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and would create more than 400 megawatts of additional qualified wind projects through 2021. This latest purchase will bring ALLETE Clean Energy’s total wind project opportunity to approximately 1,500 megawatts.

CenterPoint EnergyCenterPoint Energy recently awarded an historical energy conservation rebate check in the amount of $2 million to the University of Minnesota (U of M) for installation and construction of its Main Energy Plant, a high-efficiency natural gas combined heat and power plant (CHP) on the East Bank campus. Energy produced from natural gas now allows the plant to provide its own reliable electric power to serve the Minneapolis campus' electrical loads, as well as thermal energy to heat and cool the entire campus. The project resulted in saving nearly 1 million dekatherms annually, the equivalent of the natural gas energy used in more than 10,000 homes for an entire year.

MDU Resources Group, Inc.MDU Resources Group, Inc. (NYSE: MDU) announced that its Board of Directors has directed senior management to explore reorganization to a holding company structure. The purpose of a potential reorganization would be to make Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. and Great Plains Natural Gas Co., which today are divisions of MDU Resources, into subsidiaries of the holding company, just as MDU Resources’ other operating companies are wholly owned subsidiaries.

“We will explore reorganizing the structure of our company for the purpose of simplifying it. If we proceed, all our operating companies would be subsidiaries of the

MDU Resources Group holding company,” said David L. Goodin, president and CEO of MDU Resources. “We expect a reorganization would make it easier to transact business in a number of areas, including regulatory matters, risk management and debt financing.”

MDU Resources will submit regulatory filings in 2018 in required jurisdictions. If MDU Resources proceeds with the reorganization, and subject to regulatory and other approvals, the company expects the transition to be effective Jan. 1, 2019.

WEC Energy GroupThe board of directors of WEC Energy Group (NYSE: WEC) declared a quarterly cash dividend of 55.25 cents per share on the company's common stock, an increase of 6.25 percent over the current quarterly dividend of 52 cents a share. This raises the annual dividend rate to $2.21 a share.

This marks the 302nd consecutive quarter – dating back to 1942 – that the company will have paid a dividend to its stockholders.

Otter Tail CorporationOtter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) recently announced the Board of Directors increased the company’s quarterly common stock dividend to $0.335 per share. The increase brings the annual indicated dividend rate to $1.34 per share, a $.06 increase over the 2017 rate.

This 4.7% increase, which is higher than their historical dividend growth rate, is a result of the positive impact to earnings from the “Tax Cuts & Jobs Act,” the company’s strong balance sheet, liquidity, cash generation profile and our commitment to enhancing shareholder returns. The Board believes this year’s dividend increase represents an appropriate use of capital.

This represents the 317th consecutive quarter dividends have been paid on common stock.

DIDYOU KNOW?

Interesting tidbits about the utility companies

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Did You Know cont. on page 7

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VOL. 28 NO. 1 7

Thank you to our MUI Associate Members: • Dorsey & Whitney• Lignite Energy Council• Messerli & Kramer• Moorhead Machinery & Boiler Co.• Tri-State Drilling, Inc.

Search for Minnesota Util-ity Investors and "LIKE" us. Check regularly for up-to-date information and event pictures.

MUI is on FacebookFacebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .eps Facebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .eps

Xcel EnergyAn Xcel Energy proposal that attracted a multitude of low-cost bids to develop wind and solar projects in Colorado that include battery storage is raising hopes that the concept could become more widespread, including in Minnesota.

The bids to Minneapolis-based Xcel for wind-plus battery storage and solar-plus battery storage came in at a median of $21 per megawatt hour and $36 per megawatt hour respectively. The lowest price previously was $45 per megawatt hour set in a solar power-plus storage deal between Tucson Electric Power, a utility, and NextEra Energy, a renewable power developer based in Florida.

"The bids we received are preliminary but we are impressed with the pricing we've seen," Xcel said in a statement to the Star Tribune.

So, what about rolling out battery storage projects in Minnesota? Xcel won't say for now. Answers should come in early 2019 when the company files its next long-term resource plan with Minnesota regulators.

Xcel did note that Colorado and Minnesota are different in two ways. Colorado gets more sun than Minnesota. And Colorado isn't part of a regional wholesale electricity system, as Minnesota is with its membership in MISO, the grid operator for several states. SOURCE: Star Tribune G

Did You Know cont. from page 6

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One of the benefits of being an MUI Supporting member is the opportunity to see first-hand a variety of ways how Minnesota gets it power and the chance to talk to the employees that make it all happen.

MUI is in the process of organizing these Summer Tours. Information about these tours, and possibly more, will be sent to MUI Supporting members in April.

MUI Summer Tours (available to MUI Supporting members only)

DATE TOUR

Thursday, June 21 Xcel Energy Prairie Island Nuclear Plant Tour (near Red Wing, MN)

To be determined Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) Control Center

To be determined MN Power Camp Ripley Solar Farm Tour (near Little Falls, MN)

To be determined Xcel Energy Monticello Nuclear Plant

To be determined Xcel Energy Solar Farm Tour

In Your Interest is a publication of Minnesota Utility Investors, and is published four times each year in March, June, September and December.

Phone: 651-227-7902 Toll Free: 1-888-850-5171

Email: mui@mnutilityinvestors.org www.mnutilityinvestors.org

President: Annette P. Henkel Office Manager: Lana Leonard Membership & Marketing Manager: Heidi Hickey

The Cass Gilbert Building 413 Wacouta Street, Suite 230 St. Paul, MN 55101

How to Join Complete this form and return with a check (make payable to MUI) or call us to pay with a credit card at 651-227-7902 or 1-888-850-5171.

NAME

SPOUSE’S NAME (IF APPLICABLE)

ADDRESS

CITY STATE ZIP

PHONE EMAIL

TO JOIN simply complete this form and return with payment. Or call MUI at 1-888-850-5171 or 651-227-7902.

This is your LAST print edition of In your INTEREST

Our Supporting Members are Informed, Involved, and Engaged Investors.

Due to changes in our service model, General Members will no longer receive the print edition of this newsletter.

To receive UNINTERRUPTED DELIVERY of the newsletter, join as a Supporting Member by May 18, 2018.

• FREE Meeting attendance to ALL of our meetings for your household (valued well above the cost of an annual membership!)

• Free Edward Jones Selected Utility Data chart updated annually

• Opportunities to go on EXCLUSIVE MUI Member Energy Plant Tours

• Quarterly print newsletter delivered to your home

• Print invitations for all MUI events and opportunities

Membership QualificationI have investments in the one or more of these Minnesota Investor-Owned Energy Utilities: (Check all that apply)

ALLETE

CenterPoint Energy

MDU Resources Group

Otter Tail Corporation

WEC Energy Group

Xcel Energy

Member DuesTwo people per household included per membership. (Select one)

Annual Membership ($20)

3-year Membership ($50)*

*3-year Membership GiftThose that select 3-year Membership earn a free gift. (Select one)

MUI Collapsible Tote

MUI Umbrella

Please Mail to: Minnesota Utility Investors413 Wacouta Street, Suite 230 St. Paul, MN 55101