Xcel Energy Inc. is a U.S. regulated electric utility and natural gas delivery company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers across parts of eight states (Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and New Mexico).

[3] It consists of four operating subsidiaries: Northern States Power-Minnesota, Northern States Power-Wisconsin, Public Service Company of Colorado, and Southwestern Public Service Co.[4] In December 2018, Xcel Energy announced it would deliver 100 percent clean, carbon-free electricity by 2050, with an 80 percent carbon reduction by 2035 (from 2005 levels).

NSP's system also extended east into Wisconsin, but because of utility ownership laws in that state, it was operated as an entity separate from the rest of the company.

Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) was formed in 1923 to provide an electric generating station for the Denver area.

[19] On May 20, 2019, Xcel Energy announced its intent to close all of its remaining coal-fired plants in Minnesota by 2030 while compensating by increasing solar production capacity by 1,400%.

[34] Xcel Energy's Bay Front plant in Ashland, Wisconsin, is a three-unit generating station that has become a model for the creative use of fuels: coal, waste wood, railroad ties, discarded tires, natural gas, and petroleum coke.

Xcel Energy recently proposed a plan to install biomass gasification technology at Bay Front.

[38] Colorado regulators did not approve Xcel's plan to build additional transmission in Baca County which is a large potential wind energy generator.

[40] Opponents of Colorado's Power Pathway Program highlighted that cost overruns in transmission construction will be pushed to consumers.

[38] Under the Power for the Plains Initiative, Xcel Energy built hundreds of miles of transmission lines and substations totaling $3 billion in investment.

This means that all wholesale buyers and sellers of electricity can use the transmission system under the same terms and conditions used to serve Xcel Energy's own retail customers.

[43] In 2016, Xcel Energy announced the Advanced Grid Intelligence and Security (AGIS) initiative, a long-term effort related to power reliability, distributed generation, and information sharing with customers.

Over that time, nuclear waste produced by the power plant has been stored adjacent to the Prairie Island Indian Community.

[51] While in 1991, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission capped the storage of nuclear waste on the island to 17 casks, the legislature has since permitted this number to increase.

Environmentalists and members of the Prairie Island Indian Community have been working since 1994 to have this nuclear waste transported away from their reservation due to the combined risk of the temporary design of the storage facility, unpredictable flooding and single evacuation road in the event nuclear waste is released from containment.

On March 16, 2023, Xcel Energy announced that a significant unplanned release of radioactive water from its Monticello nuclear power plant took place on November 21, 2022, which was reported only to state and federal authorities but was concealed from the public until then.

[54] The Cabin Creek Fire occurred on October 2, 2007, at Xcel Energy's Hydropower Generation plant in Georgetown, Colorado.

[55][56] On June 1, 2011, Federal prosecutors opened their charges that Xcel Energy was criminally liable for the deaths of the five RPI workers.

[57][58] On December 19, 2011, RPI Coating plead guilty to workplace safety violations and paid $1.55 million in a cash settlement.

The fire became the largest wildfire in Texas History, burning more than 1 million acres and resulting in at least two deaths and extensive property damage and livestock losses.