Xcel Energy customers in Minnesota are in line for about $40.6 million in refunds after state regulators concluded the utility improperly passed along the costs of a prolonged 2023 outage at the Prairie Island nuclear plant. The trouble started on October 19, 2023, when workers drilling near the site accidentally severed a buried control cable, knocking Unit 1 offline and forcing Xcel to buy replacement power at higher market rates for roughly 103 days. Regulators and an administrative law judge later found that those replacement power costs were imprudently charged to ratepayers, setting up refunds and potential compliance orders.
As reported by KSTP, state regulators are moving to ensure Xcel reimburses customers $40.6 million plus interest, with the money expected to show up as a bill credit in the coming months. Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioner Joseph Sullivan put it bluntly, saying, "When a utility’s imprudent action causes millions of dollars in costs, customers should not pay the price." Xcel said it respects the regulators' decision and remains committed to operating Prairie Island safely.
Judge Recommends $40.6 Million Refund
An administrative law judge issued a recommended decision on March 11, 2026, finding that the best estimate of replacement power costs tied to Xcel’s October 2023 imprudence is $40.6 million and urging the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to order Xcel to refund that amount plus interest at the prime rate, compounded monthly. The judge also recommended that the Commission bar Xcel from recovering the expenses it incurred litigating the contested case and require a compliance filing that documents those costs. Those findings and recommendations are laid out in the Office of Administrative Hearings' decision.
How The Outage Happened
The judge relied on Xcel’s own Licensee Event Report and testimony from the Minnesota Department of Commerce stating that on October 19, 2023, workers performing horizontal directional drilling struck and severed a buried control cable, triggering a 103-day outage. The decision quotes the company report: "The root cause of this human performance issue was weakness in the Excavation Permit approval process." During the outage, Xcel bought replacement power from the regional grid at higher market rates, and those replacement costs were initially passed through to customers.
Next Steps And What It Means For Customers
The administrative law judge's recommendations now head to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for a final decision. If the Commission adopts the recommendation, customers should see the refund arrive as bill credits once the mechanics and timing are finalized, KSTP reports. The Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Office of the Attorney General had urged the Commission to require refunds, arguing in the Department's filing that the replacement power costs stemmed from Xcel's imprudence. Consumer advocates backed the move, saying the outcome reinforces a basic principle: avoidable utility mistakes should not end up on customers' bills.
