Center for Energy and Environment

What it reported doing in 2025

ENERGY CONSERVATION SERVICES: CEE delivers programs throughout the upper Midwest and other cold-climate U.S. regions. CEE's programs reduce energy use, improve safety, and lower utility costs in Minnesota's homes, businesses, and communities. With competitive funding from government grants, utilities, philanthropy, and program partners, every year CEE supports improvement opportunities in more than 10,000 homes and businesses. We prioritize reducing the costs of energy services and maximizing bill savings for all Minnesotans. In residential programming, CEE delivers the utility-funded Home Energy Squad, pairing energy-saving installations with energy assessments to improve home comfort and savings. In 2025, CEE completed over 7,200 visits and helped save energy amounting to about 3 gigawatt hours and 29,000 decatherms. And 1,498 residents used the free Energy Advisor Service to complete energy efficiency projects and earn 1,767 rebates. Also in residential programming, CEE's utility-supported Multifamily Energy Solutions program has served over 14,000 multifamily units, resulting in annual average savings of $27 per unit on natural gas bills and an additional $11 per unit on electricity. In 2025, over 50 Rochester households attended Neighbor Energy Challenge workshops and CEE staff delivered over 480 energy saving kits to residents in Duluth, Eagan, Rochester, and Worthington. Separately in 2025, CEE's Authorized Insulation Contractor Program completed 26 onsite quality assurance inspections and 8 remote quality assurance inspections, onboarded 7 new contractors, and certified 18 new crew leaders. Another residential program, CEE's New Homes Single-family and Multifamily Rater Services, performed a variety of energy consulting and ratings for 302 homes and 95 builders; for multifamily developers, the program worked on 19 buildings with 9 builders and 11 developers covering over 500 apartment units. Among CEE's services for businesses, One-Stop Efficiency Shop offers a full-service rebate program for small- to mid-size businesses in Xcel Energy's Minnesota services territory, with a focus on lighting, free smart thermostat installations, rooftop unit improvements, and refrigeration. In 2025, One-Stop completed 1,843 projects including 696 smart thermostat installations, leading to the conservation of 13 megawatts and 59.3 gigawatt hours of energy, as well as $11 million in disbursed rebates and $6 million in annual savings for local businesses. Programming for communities relies on local insights and data to tailor planning to each community's unique goals. In 2025, CEE implemented the utility-funded Partners in Energy program for 22 cities, providing services to develop and implement energy action plans. CEE also offers consulting to help communities reach their goals with support for project financing, policy and technical advising, stakeholder engagement, energy benchmarking, resilience planning, and more. In 2025, CEE became the technical assistance provider for Minnesota's federally funded, low-income Weatherization Assistance Program. Our support for underserved communities also includes energy-rating and quality assurance for affordable housing, disadvantaged communities, as well as workforce training. CEE offers utility-supported paid training to join the clean energy sector as energy auditors, insulation installers, line workers, and contractors. In 2025, CEE trained more than 125 people for energy-sector careers. In 2025, we added 10 new contractors as employer hosts for 14-week long internships. Separately, CEE also delivers Minnesota Home Energy Training, a state-funded program that similarly recruits, trains, and supports energy efficiency careers.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 75.3%; rating input score 75
• Program expense ratio: 79.6%; rating input score 80
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 6.4%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.53; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings