Minneapolis Evening Shot

About the Partnership

The City of Minneapolis, Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy have been working together for more than 100 years on energy-related initiatives. With that history of working together, the Minneapolis Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) represents a new approach to partner with the City of Minneapolis in a unique way with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy, its electric and natural gas utilities, to help the City reach its Climate Equity Plan goals. The CEP is a collaborative leadership framework through which the City and utilities study, prioritize, plan, coordinate, implement, market, track, and report progress on energy activities focused on emissions reductions in the city.

How does the Partnership work?

The CEP is led by a joint City/Utility Board that reviews and approves work plans focused on helping the City achieve its climate and energy goals. The CEP Board is comprised of two senior representatives from each utility, two City Council members, the Mayor and the City Operations Officer.

The work plans are designed to leverage statewide policies, city municipal regulatory authority, community relationships and utility expertise to increase the adoption of energy efficiency and renewable energy. The plans also include energy related education efforts while continuing to focus on reliability and equity of energy services in Minneapolis.

  • Meeting Schedule
  • Announcements
  • Recent Documents

Get Involved – Attend An Upcoming Meeting

The CEP Board and the Energy Vision Advisory Committee (EVAC) hold quarterly public meetings where community voices help shape local energy decisions.

View All Meeting Information
View All Postings

Board Members

City of Minneapolis

  • Mayor Jacob Frey
  • Council Vice-President Aisha Chughtai
  • Council Member Katie Cashman
  • City Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher

CenterPoint Energy

  • Brad Steber (Vice President of Gas Operations)
  • Emily Suppes (Director, Regulatory)

Xcel Energy

  • John Marshall (Regional Vice President, Customer & Community – MN, ND, SD)
  • Bria Shea (Regional Vice President, Regulatory )

Energy Vision Advisory Committee 

The CEP Board also collects community feedback through the Energy Vision Advisory Committee (EVAC) to aid in their decision making. EVAC is and advisory board made up of Minneapolis community members (residents and employees) who advise the Clean Energy Partnership board and its charge is to review and provide feedback on partner work plans. EVAC members are appointed for two-year terms.

EVAC Charter

2023-2025 EVAC Appointments

  • Co-chair: Patty O’Keefe
  • Co-chair: Marcus Mills
  • Timothy DenHerder-Thomas
  • John Farrell
  • Molly Janis Smith
  • Jon Kuskie
  • Jamez Staples
  • Elizabeth Turner
  • Ansha Zaman

History of the CEP

The CEP originally arose following discussions about the renewal of the City’s utility franchise agreements and how those renewals could leverage both City resources and utility resources to advance climate and energy goals. The City completed the Energy Pathways Study  in early 2014, which detailed its vision for a sustainable, 21st century energy system and potential options for achieving that system. A key recommendation of the study was that the City leverage franchise agreement discussions to establish a formal “partnership” in which the three organizations worked collaboratively towards City goals.

In October 2014, the City signed ten-year franchise agreements with both Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy, as well as Memorandums-of-Understanding (MOUs) that formally established the Clean Energy Partnership. In early 2025, new franchise agreements and updated MOUs were signed by the Partners, representing a further evolution of joint collaboration.

Minneapolis has a long history of climate action, dating back to the 1993 Minneapolis-St. Paul CO2 Reduction Project, which established the City’s first emissions reduction goals and identified strategies to meet those goals. In 2013, the City adopted its first climate action plan, which identified a roadmap for the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent or more by 2050. In 2023, the City adopted its successor Climate Equity Plan, which increased the City’s climate commitments by striving for equitable decarbonization toward a carbon-neutral community by 2050. Launched in January 2024, the Climate Legacy Initiative (CLI) funds the City of Minneapolis’ aggressive climate goals over the next 10 years. Through this innovative way to achieve the City’s accelerated, equitable climate goals, the CLI provides $10 million of annual funding dedicated for equitable climate action work.

CenterPoint Energy and Xcel Energy also have longstanding commitments to the environment and impressive track records. Xcel Energy provides clean and reliable service for customers with carbon emissions reductions expected to exceed 80% by 2030.  Both utilities operate comprehensive energy efficiency programs that help customers reduce their energy use and save money. Additionally, both have received national recognition for the innovative approaches and continuous results of these programs.

The CEP celebrates extending its agreement to continue working collaboratively to achieve the city’s climate and equity goals.