Howie: ALLETE’s next act is pure northern Minnesota grit — and they’ve earned our blessing to lead it

If you ever want a straight-shoot answer about who’s really earned our trust around here, skip the corporate mission statements and just eavesdrop on the corner booths at the Duluth Grill. Or lean an elbow on the bar at T-Bonz in the Friendly West End. You’ll catch stories that tell you everything you need to know.

Last Friday, a retired ore truck mechanic from Eveleth leaned back over his stack pancakes at the Grill, stabbed his fork in the air and told me, “Hell, long as my lights stay on, my wife’s curling iron’s hot, and my grandson can fire up the Xbox, I figure Minnesota Power’s worth every nickel.”

Not exactly the kind of endorsement you see on a glossy investor deck — but around here, that’s gold. Because for more than a century, Minnesota Power and ALLETE have been the quiet, rugged backbone holding this region together. From the earliest days, when they rigged up the hydro plants at Thomson and Fond du Lac to light the first dusty storefronts in downtown Duluth, to wiring half the Iron Range so taconite could fuel America’s steel — these folks built us.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, when the Range was booming and trucks lined up at the docks two miles long, Minnesota Power was stringing high-capacity lines faster than you could pour a Grain Belt. They made sure the mines never went dark, the paper mills kept chopping, and the modest little homes across Piedmont and West End stayed warm in January.

And when the steel crash nearly gutted this region in the 1980s? Minnesota Power didn’t cut bait. They kept crews working, kept substations up to snuff, so when the economy finally rolled over again, we weren’t starting from scratch.

Which is why this next chapter — ALLETE selling to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) — feels less like rolling dice and more like finally cashing in all that trust they’ve built. This isn’t some out-of-town raider ready to carve us up. This is a smart, deliberate move with deep pockets and even deeper local guardrails.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce didn’t just slap a happy sticker on it. They tore this deal apart, flipped over every rock, worried about future rates, worried about local control — exactly like we ask them to do — then signed off, calling it “consistent with the public interest.” In other words: this is as good as you get in modern utility regulation.

Look what we’re getting:

. A full-year freeze on base rates.

. A permanent drop in allowed profits (meaning less out of our wallets).

. A guaranteed five-year plan to modernize the system so your grandkids aren’t cussing over brownouts.

. $50 million in fresh investor cash poured right into clean firm tech — the kind that means we won’t be playing blackout roulette when the sun ducks behind a cloud or the wind calms.

. Even millions set aside to forgive utility debt for struggling families. That’s not PR fluff — that’s groceries on tables.

Meanwhile, the home base stays right on Superior Street. The leadership team? Same faces. The union contracts? Not just honored but extended. More local seats on the board, keeping the Northland’s fingerprints all over decisions.

That’s why you’ve got an unusually wide pack singing off the same sheet — from IBEW Local 31, to the Duluth, Hermantown and Minnesota chambers, to the Head of the Lakes United Way, even to watchdogs like Energy CENTS. They’ve seen enough to know this isn’t a flimsy smokescreen. This is serious, long-haul investment that leaves Duluth running the show while tapping into global capital.

Of course there’s chatter. Over at T-Bonz, one guy with a half-bent Twins cap muttered, “Sure hope these Canadians don’t mess up my power bill.”
But right behind him, a buddy shot back, “Aw c’mon, Jim. You’ve been bellyachin’ since they replaced your wood stove with a meter. Minnesota Power’s never let us down yet.”

And that’s just it. For over 100 years — through every taconite swing, every downtown bust, every ice storm and wildfire — they’ve kept this region wired up, warmed up, and ready for more. They earned our trust the hard way. With calloused hands, overtime hours, and trucks rolling before dawn on some godawful icy shoulder.

So yeah, I’m all in. Because if the past century is any clue, this next one’s going to be pretty bright too.