By Walker Orenstein

Copyright startribune

Casie Lowen knew she was past due on her power bill. Costs stacked after she had a baby in 2020, followed by health problems and a breakup. She had trouble finding consistent work.

“It’s my own fault,” Lowen said. “Things happen, I got behind.”

Then Xcel Energy shut off electricity to her St. Paul apartment in May. A fridge full of food spoiled. Lowen said she ran an extension cord into her hallway to keep a freezer full of meat from going bad. She was at risk of eviction because being disconnected is against her lease.

Xcel wanted $450, she said. “That’s what I live on a month,” she said.

Lowen lined up government help for energy bills, and agreed to a payment plan. Xcel turned the lights back on about one day after they went out.

In Minnesota, that kind of life-altering disruption is becoming more common.

Most of Minnesota’s largest power companies are shutting off heat or electricity for their customers in record numbers in the years after a temporary ban on the practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xcel has reported the biggest increase among state-regulated utilities. The company disconnected 52,549 Minnesota households from electricity or gas last year. That is more than triple the number from 2019, the year before the pandemic moratorium began. It’s far more than any year in at least a decade.