Why Ontario’s electricity tariff likely won’t hurt Minnesotans

“It doesn’t impact Donald Trump one bit, it impacts ratepayers in Minnesota,” Walz said. “For what? These are our friends.”

Minnesota Power has a lengthy contract with Manitoba Hydro, which supplies about 11% of the Duluth utility’s electricity. Minnesota Power and Manitoba Hydro built a $700 million, 224-mile power line that was energized in 2020.

“We definitely are monitoring this, we definitely are keeping a close eye on it,” Rutledge said. “But we do want our customers to be assured that we don’t expect this to impact our ability to provide reliable service and, the Ontario surcharge, we expect that to be a negligible impact.”

Less than 1% of MISO’s total energy in 2024 came from Canada. MISO spokesman Brandon Morris said less than half of that came from Ontario, which is not a member of the regional grid but sends power to it.

He compared it to the output of one power plant, and said the grid manages the temporary loss of power plants every day while maintaining a reliable system.

On Monday, Morris said MISO is still reviewing Ontario’s export tax on electricity, but said it would be collected on the Canadian side of the border.