Minnesota Power (ALLETE) commercial electricity rates

• Average commercial price, 202514.75¢per kWh, all commercial customers
• vs Minnesota average+19%state commercial average 12.35¢
• Commercial customers26,2512nd largest of 39 in Minnesota
• Average use3,858 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$569a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+88%from 7.86¢ per kWh
• Outages102 mina year per customer · US average 124

Minnesota Power (ALLETE) is an investor-owned utility serving 17 counties in Minnesota. Among the 39 Minnesota utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the 2nd largest, with about 8.5% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as ALLETE, Inc..

Minnesota Power commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 Minnesota Power billed its commercial customers an average of 7.86¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 14.75¢, so it rose 88% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Minnesota rose 31% over the same period. The latest year, 2025, is the highest of the 11 on record here. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 1.8%.

Average use and average bill are the utility’s commercial sales and revenue divided by its commercial customers and by twelve. The bill is an all-in figure: energy, delivery, demand and fixed charges together. A few very large customers pull both averages up, so most businesses use and pay less than the average.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at Minnesota Power

In 2025 the average commercial price at Minnesota Power was 7.0% below the residential figure and 57% above the industrial one. Larger customers take power at a higher voltage and use it more steadily, so at most utilities the average falls from residential to commercial to industrial. Which class an account falls in is the utility’s decision, and the line between commercial and industrial is drawn differently from one utility to the next.

How Minnesota Power’s commercial rates are set

Minnesota Power is investor-owned, so its rates are set in cases before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and published in a tariff, which is a public document. A commercial account is billed on a rate schedule, chosen by the size of the account and the voltage it takes power at, and a schedule usually combines a fixed monthly charge, a charge per kWh and, above a certain size, a demand charge on the highest rate of draw in the month. The schedule code is printed on the bill. There is no competitive supply market for ordinary commercial accounts in Minnesota, so the levers are the schedule, the peak and the amount used.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Minnesota Power

EIA counts 26,251 commercial meters at Minnesota Power in 2025, and 26,249 of them (more than 99%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 2 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

EIA records 229 commercial net-metered generating systems at Minnesota Power in 2025, with 11.8 MW of capacity between them: about 8.7 for every 1,000 commercial customers. Net metering credits a customer for power its own system sends to the grid; the terms are in the utility’s tariff.

How reliable is Minnesota Power’s electric service?

Minnesota Power customers went without power for an average of 102 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 1.09 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 143 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where Minnesota Power serves

EIA records Minnesota Power serving customers in 17 Minnesota counties: Aitkin, Benton, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow Wing, Hubbard, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Morrison, Otter Tail, Pine, St Louis, Stearns, Todd, Wadena. A county can be shared between utilities, so this does not tell you who serves a given address. The utility that serves an address is the one named on its bill.

EIA lists MISO as its balancing authority. MISO is one of the organised wholesale markets, which run the grid and the wholesale power market across their area.

Other utilities in Minnesota

The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The Minnesota page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.

• Xcel Energy Minnesota (12.73¢)
• Otter Tail Power (9.38¢)
• Connexus Energy (10.99¢)

What these figures can and cannot tell you

• They are averages over every commercial customer. A utility whose commercial customers are mostly large averages fewer cents per kWh than one serving mostly small shops, so a lower figure can mean larger customers and not a lower rate.
• They are not a rate schedule. None of these figures is a charge printed in Minnesota Power’s tariff, and nothing here works out a bill from one. The tariff index lists the utilities whose filed schedules are quoted on this site.
• They are annual and final. EIA publishes utility figures once a year. The Minnesota page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.

For one building, the cost estimator gives a range by building type, size and state, and price by utility sets every utility side by side. Commercial vs residential vs industrial compares the classes in every state.

Data: every year of these figures, for this utility and every other with a page, is in one CSV, free to use with credit to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and this site. To cite this page: Minnesota Power commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about Minnesota Power

What is the average commercial electricity rate at Minnesota Power?

Minnesota Power billed its commercial customers in Minnesota an average of 14.75¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 19% above the Minnesota commercial average of 12.35¢. It is the utility’s commercial revenue divided by its commercial sales, so it describes the whole class and is not the rate on any one schedule.

How much is the average commercial electric bill at Minnesota Power?

About $569 a month in 2025, on average use of about 3,858 kWh a month. That is Minnesota Power’s commercial revenue divided by its 26,251 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have Minnesota Power’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average Minnesota Power billed commercial customers rose 88% between 2015 and 2025, from 7.86¢ to 14.75¢ per kWh. The Minnesota commercial average rose 31% over the same period.

How reliable is Minnesota Power’s electric service?

Minnesota Power customers averaged 102 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does Minnesota Power use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 26,249 advanced (AMI) meters among Minnesota Power’s 26,251 commercial meters in 2025, which is more than 99%. An advanced meter records use at least hourly, which is what makes interval data and time-varying rates possible.

Is this the rate my business will pay Minnesota Power?

No. It is an average over every commercial customer, from a corner shop to a campus. What one business pays depends on its rate schedule, how much it uses and how hard it draws at its peak. The schedule code is printed on the bill, and the schedule itself is in Minnesota Power’s tariff.