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In 2020, 690,431 Minnesota households were eligible for energy assistance.
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Of those, only 127,605 households received support paying their energy bills through the program.
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In 2017, 1,700 households received weatherization assistance to make their homes more energy efficient, comfortable, and safe.
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At this rate, it would take 291 years to weatherize all eligible homes in Minnesota. That's far too long, and we can do better.
Let's get started
Learn more about available programs and ways you can reduce the impact of energy costs.
Learn about how weatherization works for the range of homes types and what you can do.
See what strategies and partnerships can make a big impact toward eliminating the energy burden of Minnesota households.
Help with Energy Bills
If you are having trouble paying your energy bills, Energy Assistance may be able to help with your energy expenses.
Weatherization Assistance
Weatherization Assistance can help reduce your energy bills and make your home more comfortable and safe.
Find out if you're eligible
Electric Utility
Your electric utility may provide energy assessments, direct installation of energy-saving devices, and/or rebates on energy-saving devices. Find your electric utility by checking your bill or contacting your city hall.
Natural Gas Utility or Delivered Fuel Vendor
Your natural gas utility may provide energy assessments, direct installation of energy-saving devices, and/or rebates on energy-saving devices. They may also provide seasonal cost averaging programs.
Have your utilities been shut off?
Contact your landlord to alert them that utilities need to be paid. If your landlord still does not pay the utilities, you or a group of tenants may pay the utilities and deduct the payment from your rent.
- Notify your landlord in writing that you plan to pay the utilities if they are not paid within 48 hours. If it is winter and the heat is not on, a shorter time period is acceptable. (You may also notify the landlord orally, but a you must also send a written notice within 24 hours of the oral notice.)
- If the utilities are not reconnected in that time, a tenant may pay the amount due for the most recent billing period. Submit a copy of the receipt to your landlord with your rent. You may deduct the amount paid from your rent payment.
- If you live in a building with 5 or fewer units, you or another tenant may establish an account in your name, pay the monthly utility bill, and submit a copy of the receipt with your rent payment each month.
Contact your utility (to set up a payment plan and find out if they have affordability programs), your landlord if you have one (to let them know you have been disconnected), and your local Energy Assistance Program (to request assistance paying your utility bills, if you qualify).
During the winter, (Oct. 15 - Apr. 15), if you receive Energy Assistance or if your household income is under 50% of MN median income, you and the utility should establish a reduced payment plan. During the winter, if you make timely payments based on that payment plan, the utility may not disconnect you, or must reconnect you if you have been disconnected.
If it is not winter, or if your income is higher than half the state’s median income, you should still work with your utility to establish a payment plan. You must stick to the payment plan. If your situation changes and you are not able to keep up, you must contact your utility again to make a new payment plan.
If you have questions about your energy bills or just want to learn more, staff at Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota have answers. You can participate in an Energy Bill Clinic to better understand your energy bills and ways to save energy.
Learn about how weatherization works and how you can improve the efficiency, comfort, and safety of your and neighbors' homes
There are things all of us can do to weatherize our own homes and others in our community. Explore these topics below:
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How Weatherization Works
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Single Family Homes
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Multifamily Housing
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Manufactured Homes
How Weatherization Works
Home Weatherization is the process of tightening up your home to protect you from Minnesota's cold winters and hot summers. Weatherization can help decrease annual energy costs by up to 30 percent! How does it work?
- Energy Assessment: It usually begins by having a home energy professional look through your home for opportunities to make your home more energy efficient by sealing air leaks, adding insulation to exterior walls and attic, and checking if the furnace or boiler and water heater are working properly. During this energy assessment you will also learn about other actions you can take to conserve energy.
- Make Improvements: Depending on where you live, some basic improvements might be made during the energy assessment like installing LED light bulbs and insulating hot water pipes. After that you'll need to decide what you can do yourself and what you should hire a contractor to do.
Resources for Weatherization by Housing Type
- Check out our Home Energy Guide to learn more about energy improvements and where to start.
- Find out if your utility provides energy assessments, rebates, or free LED bulbs.
- See if you qualify for the Weatherization Assistance Program. Find your provider.
- For households in Xcel and CenterPoint territory, you can sign up for a Home Energy Squad visit. For $100—or free for qualifying residents—you get both a home energy assessment and a number of energy saving devices and equipment installed.
- Download Home Energy Guides for renters and landlords from CERTs.
- Dig into reports of energy efficiency retrofits to multifamily affordable housing in Minnesota to see what others have done.
- Find out if your utility provides energy assessments, rebates, or free LED bulbs.
- See if your building qualifies for the Weatherization Assistance Program. Find your provider.
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Utility Multifamily Building Efficiency Programs are available from Xcel Energy/CenterPoint Energy and Minnesota Energy Resources that include a whole building energy analysis, installation of energy-saving items, a report providing recommendations, consulting support for implementation, and rebates for making energy upgrades.
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Familiarize yourself with Minnesota Housing's multifamily program guides to learn about capital cost financing, rental assistance, and more.
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Connect with the Minnesota Multifamily Affordable Housing Energy Network [PDF] (MMAHEN) of which CERTs is an active member
How CERTs helps
During 2019, CERTs referred 22 properties, of which seven moved forward with the Minnesota Energy Resources and Minnesota Power Multi-Family Building Direct Install Programs.
- In the six communities served (Albert Lea, Glenville, North Branch, Jackson, Cannon Falls, Hinckley) the program reached 176 units or households.
- Two of the seven properties were low-income housing.
- The total gas and electric savings for the properties was 6,120 therms, 17,625 kWh, and $19,900 annually.
- Check out our Home Energy Guide and videos to learn more and get started.
- Find out if your utility provides energy assessments, rebates, or free LED bulbs.
- See if you qualify for the Weatherization Assistance Program. Find your provider.
- Get pointers on DIY repairs for your manufactured home home from these articles and these how-to videos.
- Get support for improving the vitality of your manufactured home park from All Parks Alliance for Change and Northcountry Cooperative Foundation.
- Learn more about energy opportunities in the 2018 report from Slipstream, "Minnesota Manufactured Homes Characterization and Performance Baseline Study."
How CERTs helps
CERTs is working with manufactured home parks across the state of Minnesota to improve their comfort, affordability and safety. We do this by coordinating clean energy resources from local utilities, weatherization service providers, and public and private organizations. Finally, we work in partnership with the parks’ management and residents. Learn how our two year effort reduced energy burden in 22 manufactured home parks
We are a community that serves 80% below median income, with most at 60% or lower. The energy savings gifts of the bulbs and the hot water saving faucet tips and shower heads were a true savings in themselves for them. However, the educational materials are of the utmost benefit, as they are habits that families can use to save energy costs for many years to come.
Manufactured home resident
Ready to do even more? Explore strategies for tackling this challenge and the partners already making it happen.
How will we reduce the energy burden of 500,000 families to below 5 percent? To get this done it’s going to take a lot of us working together.
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Explore and implement strategies for reducing energy burden
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Share strategies with your peers and local decision makers
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What are we missing? Suggest additional ideas
Strategies
There are a lot of easy do-it-yourself energy actions and projects to save on costs and increase comfort and safety. Sometimes doing these actions together — or at least learning how to do them with others — can make it easier. It all adds up! A few examples of how this could work include:
- Series of evening home energy efficiency events organized by Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP)
- Community workshop to repair and restore old windows put on by Rethos
- Distribution of LED light bulbs to energy-burdened residents by Tom Williamson and the Rochester Faith and Solar Coalition
Weatherization Service Providers work with households to conduct whole home weatherization services (building envelope, insulation, HVAC systems) for those individuals and/or families who meet income requirements.
Electric and gas utilities in Minnesota provide services to their residential customers to assist with energy efficiency. Many utilities have specific programs for under-resourced households, as well. A few specific examples include:
- Utility Rebates: Because rebates and eligibility for programs varies by utility, it’s best to reach out to your local electric and gas utility companies to understand program options.
- Home Energy Squad: for Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy customers, this program provides a whole-home energy assessment and installs a number of energy saving devices during the home visit.
- Free Conservation Kits: Minnesota Energy Resources and Minnesota Power customers can request kits that include low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators, and pipe insulation for saving water and natural gas.
- Utility Partnerships with Weatherization Service Providers: Like this example of Minnesota Energy Resources helping Bi-County Community Action Programs serve additional homes.
- Utilities Working with Local Institutions: Like this example of People's Energy Cooperative distributing LED light bulbs through an area food shelf.
A few examples of active and innovative nonprofits working to reduce energy burden in Minnesota include:
Housing and Redevelopment Authorities across Minnesota provide housing for residents, offer homeowner education, and assist with housing redevelopment. One example of an HRA doing this work is Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership.
Community solar gardens can be a tool to help any household access the benefits of solar without having to install it on their own home or building. While not all community solar gardens are accessible to energy burdened households, there are a number of models that are geared toward specifically making community solar something in which everyone can participate:
- A 204kW community solar garden on the roof of Shiloh Temple International Ministries in North Minneapolis (developed by Cooperative Energy Futures and installed by Impact Power Solutions) hired local community members through a jobs training program and invited congregation members, neighborhood residents, and local businesses to be the first subscribers.
- Cooperative Energy Futures installed a 664kW community solar garden on the roof of the City of Edina's public works facility that was available exclusively to local residents.
- Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe worked with the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) to install 200kW of solar across five sites that provide revenue to their Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to offset energy expenses for eligible families. Students from Leech Lake Tribal College earned their solar installation licenses installing the arrays.
- Ecolibrium3 is installing a 40kW solar garden in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Duluth. The project was paid for in part by Minnesota Power’s Low Income Solar Pilot Program, and the utility will purchase the solar power. Proceeds will support homeless veterans and families facing utility disconnections.
Once households have tackled energy efficiency, solar can be an option to further reduce electric bills.
- The Minnesota Department of Commerce is working with the weatherization service provider network to assess the solar PV readiness of low-income heating energy assistance program eligible households (more details to come).
- Beyond solar electric, solar thermal is also an option to lessen a home’s heating demand. Learn more about 8th Fire Solar, the company now manufacturing these solar thermal systems in Minnesota.
Take a moment to learn about clean energy careers and training opportunities available across the state and find jobs in the energy efficiency and renewable energy fields.
Examples of efforts and programs to advance this work include:
These organizations do the hands-on work to reduce energy burden every day in Minnesota.
Weatherization Assistance Providers:
- Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency
- Bi-County Community Action Program
- Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties
- Dakota County Community Development
- Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
- Inter-County Community Council
- KOOTASCA Community Action, Inc
- Lakes and Pines Community Action Council
- Mahube-Otwa Community Action Partnership, Inc.
- Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
- Minnesota Valley Action Council
- Northwest Community Action
- Prairie Five Community Action Council
- Semcac
- Southwestern MN Opportunity Council
- Sustainable Resources Center
- Three Rivers Community Action
- Tri-County Action Programs
- Tri-County Community Action
- United Community Action Partnership Inc.
- West Central Minnesota Community Action
- White Earth Nation
- Wright County Community Action
Other Organizations:
These partners joined the Under 5% effort to go above and beyond to end energy burden.
These supporters are providing additional resources to organizations ending energy burden.
Should your organization be recognized as a partner in ending energy burden in Minnesota?
Notable Under 5% Campaign Milestones
October 2020
Under 5% Campaign launches with the goal of eliminating energy poverty in Minnesota
December 2020
Met Council launches Solar-for-Vouchers program to help multifamily property owners install solar
January 2021
Partnerships empower residents of manufactured homes to save energy
February 2021
Release of home energy guide series in several languages provides new resources for residents
March 2021
New federal dollars and program changes increase access to Energy Assistance
April 2021
Minnesota takes part in the Inclusive Shared Solar Initiative to explore opportunities to expand access to community solar
May 2021
ECO Act passes, increasing utility spending on programs serving under-resourced customers
June 2021
Creation of Home Energy Corps in Minnesota adds capacity for weatherization
Early 2022
Weatherization Working Group (in part instigated by our Under 5% work) published its report
January 2022
CERTs awards 74 seed grants — many aiming to alleviate the energy burden of households in their communities
June 2022
CERTs, with support of the Carolyn Family Foundation, initiates an effort to explore solar for manufactured homes
July 2022
CERTs publishes a story about WX now including solar (which could also be a strategy) featuring SEMCAC
October 2022
CERTs formalized its process for working with manufactured homes and shared this via a utility peer-to-peer session
September 2022
The Minnesota Climate Action Plan announces new goals related to Weatherization
November 2022
CERTs works to support Aiiking 8th Fire offering training to members of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe to install solar thermal hot air systems. Job creation is an essential part of reducing energy burden.