All posts by Karlee Weinmann

Karlee Weinmann is a Research and Communications Manager for the Energy and Policy Institute. In her previous role at the City of Minneapolis, she focused on climate and land use policy and led development of nationally recognized ordinances that increase transparency of home energy costs. Karlee was also a researcher for the Energy Democracy Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and, before that, a reporter covering Wall Street dealmaking for a legal newswire. She lives in Minneapolis.

Utility campaign giving nears $500K as Michigan lawmakers weigh energy bills

DTE Energy and Consumers Energy PAC spending this year favors Democrats, who have a trifecta and have pledged to pass clean energy bills.

/ October 27, 2023

Michigan legislators took $176K from DTE since pledging new era of utility accountability after outage backlash

DTE Energy's contributions to campaign and party funds come as Democrats attempt to pass climate and consumer protection bills.

/ October 18, 2023

Xcel-funded group urges Minnesota regulators to increase profits for Xcel

Minnesota Utility Investors, a shareholder advocacy group, joins Xcel in pushing for PUC to reconsider rate case decision

/ July 9, 2023

DTE Energy shareholders reject transparency proposal

Efforts to force utilities to disclose political spending information continue at the Michigan Legislature and PSC

/ May 15, 2023

Xcel pushing measure that has raised gas bills in Minnesota, scrapped in other states

Xcel Energy is fighting the scheduled sunset of a Minnesota law that enables utilities to charge customers hundreds of millions of dollars for fossil gas infrastructure upgrades without standard regulatory...

/ April 18, 2023

North Dakota has spent millions on a coal industry campaign targeting 100% clean energy legislation in Minnesota

A North Dakota coal industry front group, the Lignite Energy Council, has jumped state lines to wage a campaign to weaken a bill in Minnesota that would require the state’s...

/ January 18, 2023

Xcel Energy is recruiting Minnesota cities to thwart governor’s clean energy agenda

The Carbon-Free Future MN Coalition is part of Xcel’s lobbying campaign against carbon-free electricity by 2040

/ November 17, 2022

Amid controversies, DTE Energy continues to spend big in Michigan and nearly every lawmaker accepts

93% of legislators have taken DTE Energy money during their careers

/ September 28, 2022

Utilities sent $2.4 million to anti-abortion state officials who sponsored and signed trigger laws

Oncor, Atmos, AEP, and CenterPoint are among biggest donors

/ August 24, 2022

Utility executive contributions surge in Minnesota state senate race

Out-of-state utility execs flood campaign in a district with a population of just 85,000

/ August 1, 2022