Corporate Responsibility Report

A report on the economic, environmental and social impacts of Xcel Energy

To Our Stakeholders:

Because Xcel Energy consistently meets its business goals and honors its commitments to customers, employees and the environment, the company proves that it is Built to Last. That was certainly true in 2010, an outstanding year in every category. We met our financial goals, maintained outstanding customer service, demonstrated environmental leadership and achieved operational excellence.

This corporate responsibility report provides details about those accomplishments in the categories of Our Business, Our People and Our Clean Energy Future and Environmental Performance. Each category is important, and each contributes to our long-term success.

Our Business

For the sixth consecutive year, Xcel Energy met its earnings target, increasing ongoing earnings by 8 percent. We raised our dividend 3 percent, and our stock outperformed our peer group of regulated utilities for the third year in a row. Standard and Poor’s upgraded our credit ratings in 2010, and we were able to finance the purchase of two natural gas plants on favorable terms. Our financial success is the result of a straightforward strategy for growing our business. We invest in our core electric and natural gas businesses to provide safe, clean and reliable energy to customers at a reasonable price. As part of that process, we collaborate with a variety of stakeholders to ensure our investments are environmentally sound and that we are able to earn a fair return on them.

The strategy is working well. It’s evident by recent successful projects, including the completion of our Comanche 3 coal-fired unit and our 201-MW Nobles Wind Farm, as well as our ongoing efforts to expand and upgrade our electric transmission system.

Our People

We believe that Xcel Energy employees are the best in the industry. They’re intelligent, work hard and care about our customers and the communities we serve. That’s why we strive to provide an environment where productive employees are able to do their best work and stay safe.

Our customers are important to us, and they gave us high marks in 2010. For the second year in a row, we received a residential customer satisfaction rating of 92 percent—in part because our reliability results were strong. We’ve been helping customers save energy and money for more than two decades. In 2010, we helped them conserve about 773 GWh of electricity, our best results ever in one year. Of course, we also recognize that we are only as strong as the communities we serve. We support them with grants to nonprofit organizations, employee volunteerism and contributions to energy payment assistance organizations in our service territory.

Our Clean Energy Future and Environmental Performance

Xcel Energy’s list of environmental accomplishments is long—from our portfolio of renewable energy sources to our emissions-reduction efforts to our investments in promising new technology. All of those initiatives get us closer to a clean energy future. And as we move in that direction, we balance our environmental responsibilities with our obligation to customers to deliver reliable energy at a competitive price. We want customers to know, for example, that in some cases we’ve been able to provide them with wind energy that is less expensive than energy from fossil fuel. We want them to be aware of the fact that our balanced resource strategy, which includes a mix of energy sources, will continue to keep costs reasonable.

Built to Last

Xcel Energy is strong today and making the decisions and investments that will keep us strong. We always will care about employees, customers and communities. We will continue to operate our systems well. And our commitment to environmental leadership will remain steadfast. That’s what Built to Last is all about.

Sincerely,
Richard C. Kelly, Chairman and CEO
Ben G.S. Fowke, President and COO