Xcel backs down on billing public for executive perks in Colorado

Xcel Energy won’t ask ratepayers in Colorado to foot the bill for lavish executive perks after all, the Denver Post reports. Public scrutiny that was first raised in Minnesota in September focused recently on the St. Paul-based utility’s attempts to pass costs for luxurious dinners in Denver and accomodations in Paris to Colorado customers. Now those expenses won’t be part of Xcel’s pending request for an electrical-rate increase.

The scale of Xcel’s reversal in Colorado is substantially less than in Minnesota, where action by Attorney General Lori Swanson resulted in the removal of almost $4 million in spending from a rate-increase request here. Colorado ratepayers will avoid about $120,000 in charges for European trips, swanky mountain retreats and seats at professional sports events.

That limits Xcel requests in both states to recovering “significant new investments in our generation, transmission and distribution systems,” according to Vice President Scott Wilensky.

If Minnesota is any model, regulators in Colorado may not smile on Xcel’s request for more than $180 in increases. The $91 million the company won in Minnesota was less than 60 percent of what it wanted here.

[Via Bring Me the News]