Xcel wins modest hike in Minnesota electricity rates

More than one million Xcel Energy customers in Minnesota will see a small rate hike — 1.5 to 2 percent — this fall on their electric bills.

The state's Public Utilities Commission on Friday approved a second year of increases for the utility's electricity customers, on top of a 4.6 percent increase last year.

The company says the increase covers investments in high voltage distribution lines, renewable energy projects like the Pleasant Valley and Borders wind farms.

"We had made a lot of investments, capital investments, in distribution lines, high voltage power lines and our plants so that we could continue to provide our customers with safe and reliable service," said Aakash Chandarana, a vice president with Xcel.

The rate decision by the PUC includes a small refund. The commission also refused to allow the utility company to pass along all the costs of a controversial upgrade at the Monticello, Minn., nuclear plant, which included hundreds of millions of dollars of cost overruns.