By Denise Lana,
Members of the Decorah City Council stressed on Monday the city is not currently seeking to establish a municipal electric utility, but they are hoping to complete some paperwork which would allow them to explore the possibility of doing so in the future.
A referendum was proposed in 2018 for the city of Decorah to create its own municipal electric cooperative, but that proposal failed by three votes. Discussions of the thwarted MEU reemerged earlier this year when Alliant Energy increased its rates. The company plans to do a second rate increase in 2025, which would be the fourth increase in eight years.
City officials indicated they would like to have an alternative plan for providing electricity to Decorah residents, if Alliant’s rates become cost prohibitive for locals — but the city would need to take several steps in preparing for a full-fledged switch to a municipal utility. One of the first steps in that process would be for the city to acquire utility data from Alliant Energy. However, the Iowa Utilities Board has determined Decorah does not have the authority to compel Alliant to furnish this data, unless the city has a “successful public referendum on municipalization,” which city staff indicated would require a special election — but not a physical building or further funds collected from residents.
A special election on the possible creation of a municipal electric utility is slated for March 4, 2025.
“Alliant doesn’t answer to the city of Decorah or to the voters here, the residents of the city,” Decorah Ward 4 City Council member Steve Zittergruen said. “We’re the customers, or we are forced to be if we want our lights to work. Alliant answers to their shareholders. It’s not our job to answer to Alliant’s shareholders. It’s our job to answer to the people of Decorah. What I kept hearing and reading in Alliant’s legal briefings with the IUB is ‘the city doesn’t have standing to ask these questions’ and the ‘city doesn’t have standing to get this information, because they don’t have an electrical utility’ — I hear them loud and clear, and if that’s their argument, the next step for us if we want to keep having this conversation to find out that information is and to let the voters decide if they want to have an electrical utility.”
The city of Decorah could then potentially work directly with the utility board to see what rates and reliability might look like for a local municipal electric utility.
“If those rates and reliability are not competitive, then we sit — with our utility on paper, — and we don’t do anything,” said At Large Council member Emily Neal. “But come 10 years from now, if something happens and all of a sudden the entire energy structure changes — maybe Alliant decides to voluntarily sell their infrastructure like they did in Minnesota — we have a utility that could nimbly and easily be ready for the next part of our city’s future.”
At Monday’s meeting, the city council voted 5-1 for the Decorah Sustainability Commission to work with other representatives and design educational literature on the topic, which can then be shared with city residents. The commission was authorized to use up to $15,000 of their budget for flyers, mailers and similar items to help educate the Decorah community about a potential municipal utility and address common misconceptions. The council also expressed interest in making such information, including a report created in December of 2022, available online.
“Alliant spent about $130,000 last time — they are going to spend that much or more this time,” Neal said. “We owe it to our constituents to give the information to them to help them make an informed decision and vote.”
Councilman Kirsten Olson was in full agreement with Neal, saying misinformation should be quashed right away.
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