Securities and Exchange Commission
                              Washington, DC 20549





                                    FORM 8-K

                                 Current Report





     Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934





        Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) - March 5, 1996




                         Minnesota Power & Light Company

                             A Minnesota Corporation
                           Commission File No. 1-3548
                   IRS Employer Identification No. 41-0418150
                             30 West Superior Street
                             Duluth, Minnesota 55802
                           Telephone - (218) 722-2641







Item 5.  Other Events.


A.       Refund Order to be Reconsidered by Florida Public Service Commission

         Responding to a Florida Supreme Court decision  addressing the issue of
retroactive  ratemaking with respect to another  company,  on March 5, 1996, the
Florida  Public  Service  Commission  (FPSC) voted to reconsider an October 1995
order (Refund Order) which would have required Southern States  Utilities,  Inc.
(SSU),  a wholly owned  subsidiary of Minnesota Power & Light Company (Minnesota
Power),  to refund  about $10 million, including interest, to customers who paid
more since October 1993 under uniform  rates  than they would have paid  under 
stand-alone  rates.  Under the Refund Order,  the  collection of the $10 million
from  customers who paid less under uniform rates would not be permitted.  The
Refund Order was in response to the Florida First District  Court of Appeals 
reversal in April 1995 of the 1993 FPSC order  which  approved  uniform  rates
for most of SSU's  service  areas in Florida.  With "uniform  rates," all
customers in the uniform rate areas pay the same rates for water and wastewater 
services.  Uniform rates are an alternative to  "stand-alone"  rates which are
calculated  based on the cost of serving each service area. The FPSC will
reconsider the Refund Order at an undetermined date. SSU  continues  to  believe
that it would be  improper  for the FPSC to order a refund to one group of
customers without permitting recovery of a similar amount from the remaining 
customers since the First District Court of Appeals affirmed SSU's total revenue
requirement  for  operations  in Florida.  No provision for refund has been
recorded.



B.       Bond Ratings Revised

         On March 6, 1996,  Standard & Poor's  lowered  its rating on  Minnesota
Power's  electric  utility first  mortgage bonds and secured  pollution  control
bonds from A- to BBB+. On March 11, 1996,  Moody's Investor Services lowered its
rating from A3 to Baa1.  The  disclosure  of these  securities  ratings is not a
recommendation to buy, sell or hold Minnesota Power's securities.


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                                   Signatures


Pursuant  to the  requirements  of the  Securities  Exchange  Act of  1934,  the
registrant  has duly  caused  this  report  to be  signed  on its  behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.





                                            Minnesota Power & Light Company
                                           ----------------------------------
                                                       (Registrant)





March 11, 1996                                        D. G. Gartzke
                                           ----------------------------------
                                                      D. G. Gartzke
                                             Senior Vice President - Finance
                                                 and Chief Financial Officer

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