The Albert Lea City Council voted unanimously Monday night to support the transfer of electrical utilities from Alliant Energy to Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services.

The resolution will be submitted to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission as part of an application from a dozen southern Minnesota electric cooperatives called Southern Minnesota Energy Cooperatives to purchase Alliant Energy’s Minnesota electrical operations.

Freeborn-Mower CEO Jim Krueger said he hoped the transaction would close by the end of the year.

The companies announced plans for the sale about a year ago, at which time the transaction was estimated at $128 million. Freeborn-Mower would gain the most customers and is expected to more than triple in size.

First Ward Councilor John Schulte V said though the council does not know much about the actual deal, he recognized that local control of utilities would be better. Alliant Energy operations for the region are based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but the company headquarters are in Madison, Wis. Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services is based in Albert Lea.

“You’ll see we’re here to put our best foot forward to the community,” Krueger said.

He said once Southern Minnesota Energy Cooperatives assumes operations there will be no changes in base rates for three years, and in the fourth and fifth year, the company will conduct cost studies on the rates.

In the fifth year and beyond, the cooperative will switch to whatever rates its board decides.

In the first three years after the transaction, he said Alliant Energy customers in Minnesota will pay an estimated $28 million less by having the cooperative own it.

Krueger said Albert Lea residents will use about 40 percent of Freeborn-Mower’s energy.

Alliant’s natural gas assets in Minnesota are to be sold to Minnesota Energy Resources, which is based in Rosemount but is a subsidiary of Chicago-based Integrys Energy Group Inc.