Xcel Energy, Inc. history, profile and corporate video
Xcel Energy, Inc. is a holding company, which is engaged in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity and natural gas business through its subsidiaries. It provides a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to customers in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. The company operates through the following segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits and distributes electricity. It also offers wholesale transmission services, commodity trading operations and sales for resale in the United States. The Regulated Natural Gas Utility segment transports, stores and distributes natural gas primarily in portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan and Colorado. The All Others segment includes steam revenue, appliance repair services, nonutility real estate activities, revenues associated with processing solid waste into refuse-derived fuel and investments in rental housing projects that qualify for low-income housing tax credits. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.“
“Xcel Energy History
Xcel Energy was built on three companies: Minneapolis-based Northern States Power Company (NSP), Denver-based Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), and Amarillo-based Southwestern Public Service (SPS).
Southwestern Public Service Co. (SPS) dates its origins to 1904 and the Pecos Valley in New Mexico when Maynard Gunsell received an electricity franchise for the city of Roswell, New Mexico and its 2,000 residents. The financial strain of creating this new enterprise soon overwhelmed him and he sold the franchise to W.H. Gillenwater, who named his utility the Roswell Electric Light Co. He later sold the company to an investment firm in Cleveland, Ohio, which already owned the Roswell Gas Co.
Northern States Power Company’s timeline begins with the organization of the Washington County Light & Power Co. in 1909. When H. M. Byllesby began building his utility holding company across the Northwestern region of the US, he renamed it the Consumers Power Co. in 1910 and which was renamed the Northern States Power Co. in 1916. While the bulk of NSP’s territory grew across central and southern Minnesota (starting from the Twin Cities), it acquired territory in North Dakota (centering around Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minot) and extended southwest into South Dakota (centering around Sioux Falls). 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.
The Colorado Power Co. and its subsidiary Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power in Wyoming came under the PSCo name on September 3, 1924. By the time PSCo became an independent and autonomous operation in November 1943, it served 80 percent of Colorado’s gas and electricity needs. As demand for energy continued to grow, so did PSCo. Eventually, the company merged with Southwestern Public Service Co. (SPS), based in Amarillo, Texas, to form New Century Energies (NCE) in 1995.
Northern States Power and Wisconsin Energy Corporation had planned to merge into a new outfit that was to be called Primergy – but the merger fell through because of the time it was taking to gain the required approvals from state and federal agencies. After the failed Primergy merger, NSP (both the Minnesota and Wisconsin companies) merged with New Century Energies to form Xcel Energy.
The Cabin Creek Fire occurred on October 2, 2007 at Xcel Energy’s Hydropower Generation plant in Georgetown, Colorado. On June 1, 2011, Federal prosecutors opened their charges that Xcel Energy was criminally liable for the deaths of the five RPI workers. On June 28, the jury found Xcel Energy not guilty.
On December 19, 2011, RPI Coating pleaded guilty to workplace safety violations and paid $1.55 million in a cash settlement. The company took responsibility for the deaths of five workers and the injuries to three.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org
**Video published on YouTube by “XcelEnergyVideo“