Result, rejected
Voters rejected the charter amendment. This proposal does not create a utility commission. 673 yes (31.40%), 1,470 no (68.60%), all four precincts reporting, in unofficial results reported through November 6, 2026 at 9:58 a.m. Central. Minnesota Secretary of State
This guide was written before the vote and is kept as written. City and school district boards canvass local results November 6 to 13. The State Canvassing Board meets November 19.
What the power actually costs
Complaints about electric rates and transfers to the city are part of what put the utility question on the ballot. This page compares Luverne's posted residential rates with nearby providers, then shows average prices by customer class from state filings.
- At 750 kWh a month, Luverne's base charge plus energy charge comes to $120.25 from September through May and $130.00 in June through August, before any power-cost adjustment.
- The same calculation gives $126.08 for a Sioux Valley Energy home in town and $161.08 on its farm and rural rate. St. James, a city the same size with the same wholesale supplier, comes to $90.00.
- Xcel's posted residential sheet gives $91.23 to $104.02, but an Xcel bill adds a fuel charge (about $18 at 750 kWh) and riders, so it is not comparable line for line.
- In 2024, Luverne's residential class paid 14.01¢ per kWh on average (revenue divided by kWh). The other city utilities compared here are 2025 filings, so this is directional rather than a same-year ranking.
- The committee says rates rose about 18% over three years. The council adopted a path of about 6% a year for 2024–26, and three 6% increases compound to about 19.1%. An electric rate study is underway.
Example monthly bills at three usage levels, base charge plus energy charge
Each provider's posted monthly base charge plus its per-kWh energy charge. These are not complete bills. Taxes, fees, and monthly cost adjustments are left out.
| Provider and rate | 500 kWh | 750 kWh | 1,000 kWh |
|---|---|---|---|
Luverne: Residential, Sep–MayCity of LuvernePosted Jan. 2026 (no date printed). Leaves out power-cost adjustment (monthly amounts not published). | $88.50 | $120.25 | $152.00 |
Luverne: Residential, Jun–AugCity of LuvernePosted Jan. 2026 (no date printed). Leaves out power-cost adjustment (monthly amounts not published). | $95.00 | $130.00 | $165.00 |
Sioux Valley Energy: Residential (in town or subdivision), All yearSioux Valley EnergyRate schedules effective Feb. 2026. Leaves out wholesale power adjustment, if any is being charged. | $94.05 | $126.08 | $158.10 |
Sioux Valley Energy: Farm and rural, single-phase, All yearSioux Valley EnergyRate schedules effective Feb. 2026. Leaves out wholesale power adjustment, if any is being charged. | $129.05 | $161.08 | $193.10 |
St. James: Residential, All yearCity of St. JamesRate sheet dated Jan. 15, 2026. None listed on the rate sheet. | $67.50 | $90.00 | $112.50 |
Xcel Energy (Jan. 2024 tariff): Residential, Jun–SepXcel EnergyTariff sheet effective Jan. 1, 2024. Leaves out 7.14% interim adjustment, fuel charge, riders, surcharge. | $71.35 | $104.02 | $136.69 |
Xcel Energy (Jan. 2024 tariff): Residential, Oct–MayXcel EnergyTariff sheet effective Jan. 1, 2024. Leaves out 7.14% interim adjustment, fuel charge, riders, surcharge. | $62.82 | $91.23 | $119.64 |
Rates as posted in 2026 (for Xcel, its latest posted sheet, January 2024). Luverne and Sioux Valley can add power-cost adjustments. Their current amounts are not published. Xcel adds a fuel charge ($18.36 at 750 kWh in September 2026), riders, and a $2.12 monthly surcharge, and the cited materials do not show when its final 2026 tariff replaced the interim rates. St. James lists no adjustment. Because the rows have different effective dates and leave out different charges, the table is not a ranking of complete bills.City of LuverneSioux Valley EnergyXcel EnergyXcel EnergyCity of St. James
The city's own benefit report puts a 900-kWh Luverne bill at $133.93 in 2025, against a regional average of $133.50. It does not publish how that average was built.Missouri River Energy Services / City of Luverne
“The most expensive of the three”
At the September 15, 2026 forum, resident Tony Gacke said Luverne is the most expensive of the three utilities he pays. On the figures above, Luverne at 750 kWh is within about $6 of Sioux Valley's in-town rate, well below its farm and rural rate, and above St. James. One person's actual bills can rank differently depending on usage, season, rate class, and monthly adjustments.Rock County Star Herald
Gacke's 2024 letter compared Luverne at “$0.13740/kWh” with Sioux Valley at “$0.10550.” The Sioux Valley figure leaves out its $30 base charge, while the Luverne figure looks like an all-in number from an actual bill, which overstates the gap.Rock County Star HeraldSioux Valley Energy
Luverne's posted rates
A Luverne home pays a $25.00 monthly base charge plus 12.70¢ per kWh from September through May and 14.00¢ from June through August. Rates have risen on a council-adopted path of about 6% a year for 2024–26. Three 6% increases compound to about 19.1%, a little more than the committee's “about 18% over three years.” This page has not compared each year's tariff sheet to confirm the exact increases. Council member Mert Kracht said at the forum that an electric rate study is underway.City of LuverneCity of LuverneRock County Star Herald
Business rates
The same tariff sets two main business classes.
| Class | Who is on it | Base | Energy and demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small commercial | Single-phase, peak demand under 20 kW | $38 | 11.60–12.90¢/kWh by season |
| Large commercial | Three-phase, or 20 kW+ peak for three months in a row | $77 | 4.85¢/kWh + $20.40–$24.80 per kW of demand |
Luverne business rate classes as posted in January 2026. Monthly base charge and energy and demand charges, before any power-cost adjustment.City of Luverne
One line in the tariff stands out. The Economic Development Rate ($38 base, then one cent over cost per kWh) can be offered “when authorized by the City Administrator” under “such terms and conditions as deemed appropriate on an annual basis.” That is close to at-cost power, granted by one official. Which accounts hold it is not public, because municipal electric customer data are private or nonpublic under state law.City of LuverneMN Office of the Revisor of Statutes
This cuts both ways in the debate. It is the kind of discretion critics say needs more oversight, and it is also a discount the council's tariff already allows today.
St. James, the same-size neighbor
St. James is the closest comparison to Luverne, and its posted residential rate is lower. It has about 4,800 residents to Luverne's 4,900 (2020 Census), and charges $22.50 a month plus a flat 9.0¢/kWh (rate sheet dated January 15, 2026). At 750 kWh, base plus energy is $90.00, against Luverne's $120.25 to $130.00.City of St. JamesCity of Luverne
Power supply and governance do not obviously account for the difference. St. James buys wholesale power from the same agency as Luverne (both are members of Missouri River Energy Services), keeps its own diesel plant under the same kind of capacity arrangement, and its council sets rates, not a commission.Missouri River Energy Services
Luverne's rates do carry payments on the 2022 power-plant bonds. And a lower rate does not mean a utility run at cost. In 2023 St. James's electric fund had a 22.7% operating margin, above Luverne's 13.9%, and sent 10.5% of its revenue to other city funds. Explaining the rate gap fully would take both cities' cost-of-service studies, which are not public.City of LuverneMinnesota Office of the State Auditor
Which customers pay the most per kilowatt-hour?
Luverne's residential class averaged 14.01¢ per kWh in 2024, close to Fairmont and at the high end of these Minnesota municipal utilities. The other utilities' figures are 2025 filings, so this is not a same-year ranking. Homes pay more per kWh than industry everywhere, and Luverne's 1.4× gap is in the middle of this group.MN Department of Commerce eFiling
| City (governance, year) | Homes, ¢/kWh | Industry, ¢/kWh | Home ÷ industry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moorhead (commission), 2025 | 9.27¢ | 3.73¢ | 2.5× |
| Marshall (commission), 2025 | 9.85¢ | 6.66¢ | 1.5× |
| Hutchinson (commission), 2025 | 11.03¢ | 7.73¢ | 1.4× |
| Windom (commission), 2025 | 11.16¢ | 9.43¢ | 1.2× |
| Fairmont (council adopts rates on PUC advice), 2025 | 13.94¢ | 11.38¢ | 1.2× |
| Luverne (council-run), 2024 | 14.01¢ | 9.87¢ | 1.4× |
Revenue divided by kWh for each class, from each city's state filing, Luverne 2024 and the others 2025. Luverne's electric-heat homes are counted outside the residential row.
Average revenue per kWh, all customers (not a bill), compared
This is not what any household pays. It is each utility's total electric revenue divided by all the kWh it sold. Averaged over every customer class, neighboring utilities ranged from about 7 to 13¢ per kWh in 2024. It is the one measure all of them report federally, but it favors utilities with big industrial loads.U.S. Energy Information Administration
Average revenue per kWh, all customers, here vs. the neighbors (2024)
Total revenue divided by kWh sold, all customer classes together, as each utility filed it with the federal government. Residential-only prices, where filed, are in parentheses. Luverne's state filing reports fewer kWh than its federal one, which would put it at 11.55¢.
Luverne's own revenue and sales over time
Nearly all of the electric utility's revenue growth since 2019 came from higher prices. Revenue grew about 24–26% from 2019 to 2024, while kilowatt-hours sold were nearly flat (up 0.4%) and customers grew about 1.6%.U.S. Energy Information AdministrationCity of Luverne / MSRB EMMACity of LuverneMN Department of Commerce eFiling
Revenue per kWh rose from about 9.33¢ in 2019 to 11.55¢ in 2024. Wholesale power cost about 4.9¢ of that, so a little over half of each revenue dollar pays for everything else, including the wires, the plant and its debt, operations, and the transfers.City of Luverne / MSRB EMMAMN Department of Commerce eFilingCity of Luverne
The 11.55¢ figure uses kilowatt-hours from the state filing and audit. The federal filing reports more kilowatt-hours and produces 10.76¢. The records do not explain the difference. See the side-by-side comparison.