Last Thursday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (Commission) required Xcel Energy to distribute $500,000 of their underperformance payment for service quality issues to low-income customers with overdue bills. Because Xcel exceeded their customer complaint threshold in 2023, the company is subject to a $1 million underperformance payment, which cannot be recovered from ratepayers.

Half of the payment is equally refunded to Xcel’s electric customers. The Commission agreed with stakeholder groups like the Citizen Utility Board, Energy CENTS Coalition and Fresh Energy, and required Xcel to use the remaining $500,000 of the $1 million to provide bill credits to Xcel’s low-income customers. The first 1,000 customers with the oldest outstanding balances that reside in census block groups that have the lowest incomes will receive a $500 bill credit. Initially established in 2004, the Commission also directed stakeholders and Xcel to discuss adjusting the $1 million underperformance payment for inflation.

“The data referenced in the record shows us there is an inequity in disconnections, past due accounts and compounding penalties,” said Commissioner Valerie Means. “We need our utilities to work with our most disadvantaged customers and the Commission’s Consumer Affairs Office, to take actions like setting up affordable payment plans, so these customers don’t fall further behind.”

A critical piece of the Commission’s mission is to ensure utilities are providing high level service to Minnesota customers. The Commission reviews data collected on customer impacts like outages, past due accounts, disconnections, and complaints.

Later this fall, the Commission will hear from Xcel and stakeholders on other ways the Company can improve equitable delivery of utility services. Xcel has worked with stakeholders and the Commission on an interactive map that displays metrics related to reliability, service quality, and equity. They are now working together on strategies to remedy disparities in service shown by the map. The company is also working on a two-year test of automatic bill credits for Minnesota customers in certain low-income areas.

“We need to be taking steps and not just making statements in regard to service quality and equity,” said Commissioner Means. “We have an obligation to improve access to safe, reliable, and affordable energy for all Minnesotans.”

Consumer support

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s Consumer Affairs Office can help Minnesotans find options to help pay your gas and electric bills and assist consumers with complaints on energy and telecommunications utility services, service quality, billing problems, and service disconnections and reconnections. To get in touch with the Consumer Affairs Office, call 800.657.3782 or email consumer.puc@state.mn.us. There are Spanish and Hmong language speakers on staff Monday through Friday.