Xcel Ordered to Pay Customers $1 Million for Too Many Complaints

(Learfield News/St. Paul, MN) — State regulators are ordering Xcel Energy to pay its customers one million dollars because the utility received too many complaints in 2023.

The state Public Utilities Commission says Xcel exceeded its “customer complaint threshold” and half of the one million dollars will be equally refunded to electric customers and the other half will go to credits for low-income customers.

PUC Commissioner Valerie Means says data show inequity in disconnections, past due accounts and compounding of penalties and “we need our utilities to work with our most disadvantaged customers… so these customers don’t fall further behind.”

Regulators say they’ll hear more from Xcel and stakeholders on the issue later this fall.