The surcharge was approved by the City Council in 2010 to pay for undergrounding power lines as part of the Rice St and Highway 36 interchange improvement project.

The city requested that Xcel Energy bury the power lines because of inadequate right of way for power poles and to make the area more aesthetically appealing.

When a city requests that power lines be buried, the utility company can recover the costs by adding a surcharge to the utility bill per a Public Utilities Commission approved process. As a result residential properties in Roseville will see a $0.54 monthly surcharge. In addition, the City of Little Canada is paying for one-half the cost of the project.