The thought of an MEU is singularly unappealing

To the editor:

Regarding the March 4, 2025, MEU vote — “Shall the City of Decorah…be authorized to establish a municipally-owned electric utility?” — I read that the city council voted 5-1 to allocate up to $15,000 simoleons in support of, ahem, an “educational effort,” to include the creation and distribution of “educational material.” The city council, we are told, “wants to make sure the residents of Decorah are well-informed regarding the special election question.” Since I know absolutely nothing about running an electric utility, I decided not to wait for city council flyers and pamphlets to land in my mailbox. No, it was time for a little independent study, time to do some digging in search of facts, all in the hope of casting a well-informed vote next March.

It seems to me the primary argument for a municipally-owned electric utility is a financial argument, i.e. Alliant Energy customers in eastern Iowa pay substantially more than we should for electricity. Those who support the establishment of a municipal electric utility argue that the main reason our electricity is more expensive than it should be stems from the fact that the company that supplies our electricity, Alliant Energy, is an investor-owned utility — ticker symbol LNT. And like all investor-owned, publicly traded companies, the directors and officers of the corporation known as Alliant Energy have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the investors who own the company, otherwise known as shareholders. Given shareholder concern with profits, the argument goes — dividends, revenue, bottom line stuff — upward pressure on electricity rates will be strong and probably inevitable.

So who are these investors, these shareholders whose insatiable appetite for capital growth and dividends drives up electricity rates for Alliant customers?  Turns out the vast majority of Alliant shares are held by so-called institutional investors — investment management corporations and financial services companies, companies like the Vanguard Group, BlackRock and TIAA. This information is readily available from any number of free, user-friendly sources. And whose money does BlackRock manage? With whose money does Vanguard or TIAA purchase shares of Alliant Energy? Answer: they invest and manage my retirement accounts, and my neighbor’s 529 college savings, and my friends’ HSA investments. A lot of ordinary, middle-class and working class folks own a piece of Alliant. A large number of Alliant shareholders live right here in Winneshiek County. Most anybody who contributes to a 401(k), 403(b) or stock index ETF or mutual fund — most anybody who invests in equities — may find some Alliant Energy stock in their portfolio. I would be very surprised if at least some of the proponents of “Decorah Power and Light” didn’t own some Alliant Energy stock.

As an investor-owned utility serving customers in the state of Iowa, Alliant Energy is subject by law to regulation and oversight of the Iowa Utilities Commission. The IUC is vested by statute with broad regulatory authority over Alliant Energy and other investor-owned utilities operating in Iowa, to ensure the safe, affordable, reliable delivery of a product, whether natural gas or electricity. By law, Alliant Energy may not raise rates on Iowa customers without first receiving permission to do so by the IUC.

While the IUC has broad power to regulate the rates and services of investor-owned public utilities, its statutory authority over municipal utilities is more circumscribed. By law, the IUC has only “specific regulatory authority” over municipal electric and natural gas utilities and electric cooperatives, “specific regulatory authority” over issues such as safety standards and assigned areas of service, but zero regulatory authority over rate increases. Here then is perhaps the most important thing to know about the difference between an investor-owned utility and a municipally-owned utility. Alliant Energy has no power to raise electricity rates absent the approval of the Iowa Utilities Commission. If however, the city of Decorah is successful in establishing a municipal electric utility, then the city of Decorah will set our electricity rates and it will raise our rates, as the city sees fit, when the city sees fit, as much and as often as the city sees fit. Neither the IUC nor any other governing body will have standing to intervene.

No one will oppose lower energy bills. If I thought a municipal electric utility, “Decorah Power and Light,” would mean lower monthly bills for my family and safe, reliable service, I would happily get on board with the MEU initiative. When I consider, however, the steep, never-ending rise in city property taxes; when I hear members of Decorah City Council, without irony and without blushing, voice concern over the fact that our state legislature has placed limits on the ability of local governments to raise property taxes; when I consider how much my water-sewer bill has increased — what exactly is a tree utility? — when I think about how many additional employees the city of Decorah would need to hire in order to operate a municipal electric utility; the thought of getting my electric bill from the city of Decorah, the thought of an MEU becomes, for moi, singularly unappealing.