ST. PAUL, MN — Xcel Energy is set to issue refunds totaling tens of millions of dollars to Minnesota customers following a ruling by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
This decision stems from a catastrophic turbine failure in November 2011, which rendered Xcel’s Sherburne County power plant offline for nearly two years.
To compensate for the lost power during this outage, Xcel had to procure more expensive replacement energy from the regional grid, as noted by Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office.
The PUC initiated a review to determine whether Xcel had been negligent in the maintenance and inspection of its power plant.
On October 15, the PUC supported Attorney General Ellison’s Office and the Minnesota Department of Commerce by voting to refund Xcel Energy customers for the replacement power costs incurred due to the 2011 outage.
The PUC concluded that Xcel must cover the full cost of the replacement power, along with interest, deducting any settlement amount previously received from the turbine’s manufacturer, which Xcel had refunded to ratepayers in 2019.
“It’s difficult to manage your expenses when your utility provider is cutting corners, making errors, and attempting to pass the costs onto you,” Ellison stated.
“Utility companies operate as effective monopolies, which brings certain advantages, but it also means we expect them to use their resources judiciously. My Office is dedicated to ensuring that utility companies do not transfer the costs of their irresponsible actions onto consumers, and I am glad we have succeeded in returning tens of millions of dollars to ratepayers in this instance.”
Xcel has been instructed to provide a detailed account of the refund amount in the upcoming months.
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