# Xcel Energy *Regulated electric and natural gas utility based in Minneapolis, Minnesota* Xcel Energy Inc. is a regulated electricity and natural-gas delivery company headquartered in [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]]. As of mid-2025 it had roughly 3.9 million electric customers and 2.2 million gas customers in portions of eight states. It operates through four subsidiaries: Northern States Power-Minnesota, Northern States Power-Wisconsin, Public Service Company of Colorado and Southwestern Public Service Co.[^1] In Minnesota it owns and operates two nuclear generating plants, at Monticello and at Prairie Island near Red Wing.[^1] The City of [[Monticello]] counts about 640 employees at the Monticello plant, plant-related contractors included, and calls the plant "one of the largest property tax payers."[^2] In December 2018 the company set itself a target of fully carbon-free electricity by 2050, with an 80 percent carbon cut from 2005 levels by 2035. Its Wikipedia entry gives carbon-free sources as 50 percent of its generation in 2023, led by wind and nuclear.[^1] In this record the company appears chiefly through the 2022 tritium leak at the [[Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant]] in Wright County. The at-issue record states that Xcel confirmed a 400,000-gallon leak and notified state regulators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on November 22, 2022. The public was told on March 16, 2023, 114 days later.[^3] At an April 12, 2023 Senate hearing, Xcel's Minnesota president testified that the public should have been notified earlier. The [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] testified that regulators had waited for complete information before announcing.[^4] In December 2023 the MPCA fined the company $14,000 for tritiated-water storage tanks it had operated without the required permit.[^5] ## Who The present company combines three older utilities: Northern States Power Company (NSP) of Minneapolis, Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) of Denver, and Southwestern Public Service (SPS) of Amarillo.[^1] SPS traces its start to a 1904 electricity franchise for Roswell, New Mexico.[^1] NSP descends from the Washington County Light & Power Co., organized in 1909. H. M. Byllesby renamed that company the Consumers Power Co. in 1910, and it took the Northern States Power name in 1916.[^1] NSP's territory centred on central and southern Minnesota and reached into North Dakota and South Dakota. Its Wisconsin system was run as a separate entity because of Wisconsin's utility ownership laws.[^1] PSCo was organized in 1923 to build a generating station for Denver. It left Cities Service Company control and became independent in November 1943.[^1] Several officials testified on the tritium leak at the April 12, 2023 Senate hearing. Christopher Clark, Xcel Energy's Minnesota president, said: "We have definitely learned lessons." He testified that the public should have been notified earlier. Kirk Koudelka, MPCA assistant commissioner, testified that regulators waited for complete information before announcing. Dan Huff, assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Health, testified about private wells located more than a mile from the plant.[^4] ## What The company generates mainly from wind, natural gas and coal, and it stores spent fuel from its two nuclear plants on site in independent spent fuel storage installations.[^1] Monticello is a General Electric BWR-3 reactor. According to a Wikipedia-sourced entry in the project's workpapers, it began operating in 1971 and was uprated from 600 to 671 MWe. That entry gives its original license term as running to 2010 and its 2006 renewal as running to September 8, 2030.[^6] On December 30, 2024, the NRC issued Subsequent Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-22. The license authorizes operation "at reactor core power levels not in excess of 2,004 megawatts thermal."[^7] The same Wikipedia-sourced entry describes this subsequent renewal as extending operation toward 2050.[^6] On August 1, 2002, a suit was filed against Xcel Energy Inc. It alleged "round-trip" energy trades with no economic benefit to the company and inadequate internal controls over its power trading. The company paid $80,000,000 to settle.[^1] Xcel's parent company, and then Xcel itself, has operated the Prairie Island plant since 1973. Its nuclear waste is stored next to the Prairie Island Indian Community.[^1] In 1991 the Minnesota [[Public Utilities Commission]] limited on-island storage to 17 casks. The [[Legislature]] later allowed more; the pack does not show the year, vote or party of that enactment.[^1] ## When Dated sequence of the Monticello tritium matter, as the pack documents it: - **November 21, 2022:** date of the release, per the company's later announcement as summarized on Wikipedia.[^1] - **November 22, 2022:** Xcel confirmed the 400,000-gallon leak and notified state regulators and the NRC, according to the at-issue record.[^3] - **March 16, 2023:** Xcel announced the release publicly.[^1][^3] - **March 2023:** the MPCA identified 1 million gallons of temporary storage as the threshold requiring a major-facility permit.[^5] - **Early April 2023:** Xcel began filling a new tank with tritiated groundwater before it had obtained the permit.[^5] - **April 12, 2023:** Xcel and state regulators testified before Minnesota Senate committees.[^4] - **December 14, 2023:** the MPCA fined Xcel Energy $14,000.[^5] - **December 30, 2024:** the NRC issued Monticello's subsequent renewed operating license, No. DPR-22.[^7] ## Where The Monticello plant lies near the city of Monticello in Wright County, Minnesota.[^1][^3] The Prairie Island plant lies near Red Wing on the bank of the [[Mississippi River]]. That site floods seasonally, and some homes of the Prairie Island Indian Community stand within 600 yards of the waste storage site.[^1] Environmentalists and community members have sought removal of the waste since 1994. They cite the storage facility's temporary design, the flooding, and the single evacuation road.[^1] ## How The Monticello leak came from a water pipe running between two buildings. Until the March 2023 announcement it had been reported to state and federal authorities but not to the public.[^1] The cleanup relied on aboveground temporary tanks for tritiated water. Filling the April 2023 tank brought total temporary capacity to about 1.4 million gallons. That exceeded the MPCA's 1-million-gallon permit threshold before Xcel held the required permit, and the MPCA's December 2023 penalty addressed that sequence.[^5] ## How much - **$80,000,000:** settlement of the 2002 round-trip trading suit.[^1] - **$14,000:** the MPCA penalty of December 14, 2023, for operating the Monticello temporary tanks without the required permit.[^5] - **$7.4 billion:** proposed transmission budget for 2022–2027, per the company's Wikipedia entry.[^1] - **$1.14 billion:** the budget for a new 465-mile Minnesota transmission line, which doubled. Xcel attributed the increase to inflation.[^1] - **Property tax:** the City of Monticello calls the plant one of its largest property taxpayers. The project located no published figure for the plant's share of Wright County's total tax base and records that as an open item.[^2] ## How many - About 3.9 million electric and 2.2 million gas customers in eight states, as of mid-2025.[^1] - 400,000 gallons of tritium-contaminated water, by Xcel's estimate; 114 days between regulator notification and public disclosure.[^1][^3] - About 1.4 million gallons of temporary tank capacity against a 1-million-gallon permit threshold.[^5] - About 640 employees at Monticello, plant-related contractors included.[^2] - A cap of 17 storage casks at Prairie Island, set in 1991 and later raised by the Legislature.[^1] - About 96,000 customers enrolled in the Windsource renewable-designation program in 2015, a program the company has offered since 1998.[^1] ## In the at-issue record **At-issue 003 (Humphrey package, rank 3).** This pair records the November 22, 2022 notification to state regulators and the NRC and the March 16, 2023 public disclosure, 114 days apart. It rests on two listed sources, an agency source and a timeline.[^3] The pair is anchored to the March 2025 presidential action *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos*. Its stated rationale is that a regulator and a regulated party holding the same fact for four months fit the information silo the order describes.[^8] **At-issue 015 (Humphrey package, rank 15).** This pair sets two pieces of testimony side by side. Xcel's Minnesota president testified that the public should have been told sooner, and the MPCA testified that it waited for complete information.[^4] The pair rests on a single news report of the hearing. It is anchored to the July 2026 *White House Government Transparency Task Force Fact Sheet*.[^9] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Xcel Energy* (revision 1381581727, retrieved 2026-10-27) — company description, history, generation, transmission, programs and controversies, including the March 16, 2023 announcement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xcel_Energy [^2]: City of Monticello, *Xcel Energy* (city web page) — about 640 employees including plant-related contractors; plant described as "one of the largest property tax payers." https://www.monticellomn.gov/693/Xcel-Energy [^3]: Wright County claims exposure matrix, *Wright_Claims_Exposure_Matrix_2026-09-02.md*, row W3.1 (2026-09-02) — at-issue record of the November 22, 2022 notification to state regulators and the NRC and the March 16, 2023 public disclosure (listed sources: MPCA, CBS News). https://www.pca.state.mn.us/news-and-stories [^4]: Star Tribune, *Xcel, state regulators called in front of Senate committees over tritium leak* (hearing held April 12, 2023) — testimony of Xcel Minnesota President Christopher Clark, MPCA Assistant Commissioner Kirk Koudelka and MDH Assistant Commissioner Dan Huff. https://www.startribune.com/xcel-state-regulators-called-in-front-of-senate-committees-over-tritium-leak/600266575 [^5]: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, *Xcel Energy Inc. fined $14,000 related to tritiated water storage at Monticello nuclear facility* (December 14, 2023) — penalty for temporary tritiated-water tanks operated without the required major-facility permit; April 2023 tank filling to about 1.4 million gallons against the 1-million-gallon threshold identified in March 2023. https://www.pca.state.mn.us/news-and-stories [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant* (as summarized in the project's Wright County history workpapers, grade B) — 1971 start, GE BWR-3, uprate 600 to 671 MWe, license terms to 2010 and September 8, 2030, renewal toward 2050. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monticello_Nuclear_Generating_Plant [^7]: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, *Federal Register* document 2024-31579 (published 2025-01-03) — issuance on December 30, 2024 of Subsequent Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-22, authorizing operation not in excess of 2,004 megawatts thermal. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-03/pdf/2024-31579.pdf [^8]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (presidential action, March 2025) — the order cited as the anchor for at-issue 003. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^9]: The White House, *The White House Government Transparency Task Force Fact Sheet* (July 2026) — the fact sheet cited as the anchor for at-issue 015. https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/the-white-house-government-transparency-task-force-fact-sheet/