Recycle any and all of your old holiday lighting between now and January 31, 2020. Just drop your old lighting strands off at the RPU Service Center (4000 East River Road NE). The recycle bins are inside and to the left in the hallway near the restrooms.

What is accepted:

• Holiday Lights – incandescent or LED (working or non-working)
• Holiday Light Decorations

What is NOT accepted:

• Appliance Cords
• Battery Packs
• CFL Lights
• Cord Adaptors
• Electric Cords
• Plastic Rope Lights
• Telephone Cords

Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) customers will soon be able to review water and electric usage, enroll in paperless billing, autopay, one-time payments, options available for fast, easy, and secure payments and more with the new RPU Connect mobile application and customer website.

RPU Connect is a free mobile application that provides secure access to accounts, payment options, and tracks your usage. These same features will also be available through an online customer portal designed for desktop computers.

In addition to the features mentioned above, customers also have the ability to select “notification” preferences to receive proactive billing alerts, via email, text or phone. As well as securely connecting with our Customer Relations Team via email, using the “connect me” feature of RPU Connect.

The mobile app will be available on both iOS and Android platforms.

Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) customers will soon be able to review water and electric usage, enroll in paperless billing, autopay, one-time payment options available for pay their monthly bill and more with the new RPU Connect mobile application and customer website.

RPU Connect is a free mobile application that provides secure access to accounts, payment options and power usage tracking. The same services will also be available through an online customer portal designed for desktop computers.

In addition to the features mentioned above, customers also have the ability to select “notification” preferences to receive alerts for outages and bill due reminders. Through the “connect me” feature of RPU Connect, customers can interact with customer support without ever having to dial in.

The mobile app will be available on both iOS and Android platforms.

The Rochester Public Utility Board was presented with the rate structure survey results at the April Board Meeting by representatives from Great Blue Research.

The purpose of the survey was to identify customer views and preferences with regards to the residential rate structure, energy conservation, knowledge and perception of electrification, preferred methods of communication, overall expectations of RPU, and overall satisfaction with RPU’s electric service.

Highlights of the survey include:

• Three quarters of RPU Ratepayers consider the environmental impacts of their daily electric usage.
• Slightly more than half are willing to pay more for clean energy.
• 74% would be willing to change their consumption habits if they would pay 20% less for energy.
• Close to half of ratepayers would welcome information on energy usage with most preferring direct mail – however, interest in emailed information  is on the rise.
• Two thirds of customers would be ok to have their air conditioner interrupted for 15 minutes an hour on “peak usage days” but most – over 63% were not willing to have RPU manage their smart home devices to achieve the same goal.
• Overall ratepayers are satisfied with RPU (91.2%).

“The information that we received back from the survey will be used to help the RPU Board set a direction for future residential rate structures as well as make decisions regarding electrification, energy conservation, energy consumption behaviors, and customer communications. Hearing from and considering the input of our customers is vital to being a community focused utility,” said RPU General Manager Mark Kotschevar.

The complete survey results will be available to view on the RPU website.

About Rochester Public Utilities

As the municipal utility of Rochester, Minn., for more than 110 years, RPU provides high-quality and reliable electricity to over 55,000 customers. Water customers number more than 40,000. RPU continually investigates innovative technologies to help customers realize the best value from the services they receive. Current initiatives include photovoltaic offerings, wind energy, energy and water efficient equipment, and electric vehicle charging.

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Q- Who is doing the survey?

• RPU has hired GreatBlue Research to facilitate the phone survey and online survey.

Q- What is the point of the survey?

• The RPU Utility Board wants to gather feedback from residential customers about their level of understanding and support for different types of rate structures.

Q- What are the rate structures that GreatBlue Research will be asking about?

• The Flat Rate Structure with monthly customer charge entails a consistent rate for electricity use at any time of day, resulting in a lower cost for low energy users.
• Time of Use Rates charge customers higher rates for using electricity during peak times and lower rates during off-peak times, providing customers with options to reduce their bill by modifying their behavior.
• The Block Rate charges customers based on changing levels of energy consumption – customers who use more energy will be charged at a higher rate, resulting in an increased cost to high energy users.
• The Inclining Customer Charge bills customers a monthly fee that doesn’t change based on usage. The more electricity a customer uses, the higher the monthly charge, but the cost per kilo watt hour will not change, yielding a lower cost for low energy users.

Q- What is the window of time that they will be calling RPU customers?

• GreatBlue Research will be calling customers from February 20^th to March 6^th.

Q- How long will the phone survey take?

• The phone survey will take approximately 8-10 minutes.

Q- How will I know if it is Great Blue Research calling me?

• GreatBlue Research will show up on caller ID and the phone number will be 860.740.4000 or a variation of that (i.e., 860.740.4005, 4006, 4007 etc.).

Q- What if I’m not able to find time to do a phone survey, but would like to provide feedback still?

• An online survey link will be available on the RPU website after March 6^th.

Krista Boston joins RPU with a close to 25-year career with the state focusing on services redesign and leadership in designing innovative services for  Minnesota citizens of many ages, abilities and backgrounds in partnership with counties, cities, nonprofits and providers of health and human services.

Boston has a law degree and maintains voluntary non-practice status.  Through her work at the state and in collaboration with many local partners, her career has focused on seeking ways to build service delivery models that help people get access to information to make important decisions, as well as get support and advocacy through a variety of means.  Her work includes websites, face to face programs, call center services and other ways to provide information that is easy to understand and accessible.  She sees this as key to her work at RPU leading the customer relations and marketing groups.

She was most recently the Director of Consumer Assistance Programs for the Minnesota Board on Aging and through that, and other roles, led visible projects over the years that included services redesign efforts for the elderly, children, people in crisis and veterans.  Boston is also an adjunct faculty at Metropolitan State University teaching instructional design and staff development.

About Rochester Public Utilities

As the municipal utility of Rochester, Minn., for more than 110 years, RPU provides high-quality and reliable electricity to over 50,000 customers.  Water customers number more than 40,000.  RPU continually investigates innovative technologies to help customers realize the best value from the services they receive.  Current initiatives include photovoltaic offerings, wind energy, energy and water efficient equipment, and electric vehicle charging.

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