Minnesota households and small businesses could end up covering part of Google's electric bill. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is now reviewing a deal between Xcel Energy and Google to power a proposed data center in Pine Island. Commissioners should not approve it unless Google is required to pay every dollar of the costs it creates.

State law is clear on this. The costs of serving a utility's biggest customers are supposed to fall on those customers, not on families and local shops. But on Sept. 28, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office told the PUC that Xcel has not shown the Google deal meets that standard.

The two sides tell very different stories. Xcel says the deal will save other customers more than $1.1 billion. The Attorney General's office says its own review points the opposite way, with other customers potentially paying close to $1 billion.

The risk doesn't stop there. The contract runs 15 years. If Google ends up needing less electricity, or pulls out early, the Attorney General's office warns that ordinary customers could be left holding leftover costs that may reach billions of dollars.

Judging the deal is harder than it should be, too. Xcel has redacted most of the cost numbers in its filing and hasn't explained why for many of them.

The PUC has the power to approve, change, or reject this deal. A family in Rochester or a diner in Duluth shouldn't have to help cover the power bill of one of the world's biggest companies. Commissioners should require Xcel to prove, in public, that Google will pay its full share for the life of the contract.

Sign the petition to tell the Minnesota PUC: make Google pay its own power bill before this deal moves forward.