Minnesota's Attorney general says she'll take Minnesota Power to court to try to block a rate hike.

Attorney General Lori Swanson stopped in Duluth today to say she has filed legal papers against the company, saying its proposed rate increase unfairly targets those who make the least amount of money.

Tthe Attorney General has asked an administrative law judge to hold public hearings on the issue before the hike could be granted.

She wants any increase to be applied proportionally to all customer classes, not just households and small businesses.

The more electricity a customer uses, the lower their rate of increase.
Since August First Minnesota Power customers have been paying an extra 7.5%.

But after April, the company wants to raise that to 9.5%.

Attorney General Swanson says with Minnesota's current high
unemployment rate, and other rising costs, this is the worst possible time for a price hike.

"Minnesotans are feeling themselves pinched. Literally making decisions every day about how we're going to pay our bills. How we're going to be able to put gas in our pick up truck. Are we going to be able to pay for our health care?" Swanson said.

"It makes things that much more worse."

Said Paul Malzac, a Duluth resident with a monthly electric bill of about 55 dollars.

He says he's expecting the price to jump by almost fifty percent. He says that will change his lifestyle.

"I have relatives that live in the cities that I go and visit quite a bit and I probably won't be doing that as often," Malzac said.

David McMillan, with Minnesota Power says he understands customer concerns, but says the company has worked very hard to develop a rate increase that is fair for all.

"Big customers, mining, paper pipelines, those kinds of customers; utilize most of the energy on our system. BUT, they don't utilize any of the distribution assets that we have in place," McMillan said.

He said it costs less to get a lot of electricity to one place, than a little bit of electricity to thousands of spread out residents.

The reason for the price increase stems from rising costs and the company's state mandate to reach 25% renewable energy by the year 2025.

"The renewable additions to our system are key drivers you know, accounting for probably at least half of the increases we're looking at over time," said McMillan

Minnesota Power spokes people say they understand the pain customers are facing and have recently proposed a plan that would reduce the 43% increase to 15% for those customers who demonstrate they can't afford it