Winneshiek Energy District encourages all Decorahans interested in locally-owned clean energy opportunities to attend the public forum at city hall this Saturday morning, 9-11 AM, regarding the electric utility franchise agreement.

The Energy District suggests that the bottom line of any franchise agreement should be to keep all options open and retain maximum flexibility and leverage for the city into the future.

Long ago, franchise agreements were much more significant contractual arrangements between communities and utilities. Communities had authority over – and so could negotiate on – issues such as service territory and rates. In the 1960s and 1970s, that regulatory authority was taken over by the state, and currently resides with the Iowa Utilities Board. Today, franchise agreements today are basically working agreements on infrastructure management within city rights-of-way.

Many community priorities could theoretically be included in a franchise agreement, such as line undergrounding, guaranteed continued grid access for customers installing solar, and a franchise fee put towards sidewalks, a local energy efficiency program, and/or other priorities. As long as the city retains all current authority and does not tie its hands in a franchise agreement, however, it will also retain leverage on all these issues into the future.

It is clear that Iowa law does not require a franchise agreement, and identical utility service would continue (under regulatory authority of the IUB) without one. There are also good infrastructure cooperation reasons to have one in place, and the council needs to hear YOUR VOICE as they consider community priorities going forward.