St. Paul, MN — The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) ordered Xcel Energy to refund $40.6 million, plus interest, to Minnesota ratepayers after determining that the 2023 Prairie Island Nuclear Plant outage resulted from imprudent actions by the company.
A 103-day outage at the plant resulted when contractors mistakenly severed direct current control cables in October of 2023. The mistake forced both Prairie Island units offline, requiring Xcel to purchase replacement energy on the market to meet customer demand.
Those excess power costs were passed directly into customer bills through the automatic fuel clause adjustment. The Commission agreed with Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) report that Xcel bears responsibility for the incident and that customers must be held harmless for the company’s error. The Commission also rejected Xcel’s proposals to substantially reduce the refund amount.
To ensure transparency in how the refund will be implemented, the Commission ordered Xcel to file a compliance filing within 30 days of the Commission’s Order that:
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Lists the refund amount by customer class (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.)
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Shows the calculation of interest
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Identifies the anticipated refund date for customers
“This decision reinforces a simple principle,” said Commissioner Joseph Sullivan. “When a utility’s imprudent action causes millions of dollars in costs, customers should not pay the price. Today’s action ensures accountability and strengthens protections for future cases.”
Customers can expect the refund, including interest, to appear as a credit on their bills after Xcel submits its compliance filing and the Commission completes its review.
Full record information is available in Docket 22-179.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission regulates three cornerstone service industries in Minnesota's economy: electricity, natural gas and telephone. The Commission’s mission is to create and maintain a regulatory environment that ensures safe, adequate, and efficient utility services at fair, reasonable rates consistent with State telecommunications and energy policies. It does so by providing independent, consistent, professional, and comprehensive oversight and regulation of utility service providers. Learn more at mn.gov/puc.
