Xcel Energy said Tuesday that rate increases and hotter-than- normal early-summer weather contributed to an 18 percent increase in second-quarter earnings compared with the same period last year.
Xcel credited a portion of its earnings improvement to higher profit margins from the sale of natural gas in Colorado as well as higher gas and electric margins in some of the other seven Western and Midwestern states it serves.
Net income for the second quarter was $98.3 million, or 24 cents per share, compared with $83.4 million, or 20 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2005.
In the first quarter, Xcel reported a 25 percent increase in net income.
Based in Minneapolis, Xcel is Colorado’s largest utility, serving 1.3 million electric customers and 1.2 million natural-gas customers.
Aside from natural-gas commodity prices, which change every month, Xcel received approval last year from state regulators for a $22.5 million annual increase in base natural-gas rates.
The hot weather, particularly in June, led customers to use more air conditioning than they did last summer. As a result, Xcel sold more electricity.
The utility has filed for a $210 million annual increase in electric rates in Colorado. The request is pending before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
Xcel is the subject of an investigation by the PUC, looking at the utility’s system reliability, including a Feb. 18 series of rolling blackouts that left 371,370 Colorado customers without electricity and almost all of them without heat in subzero temperatures.
Xcel chief financial officer Ben Fowke said the utility’s service has been strong across its service area during the recent national heat wave.
“Across our system, where we’re experiencing record heat, out system has held up remarkably well, including in Colorado,” Fowke said. He added that Xcel “will spend the necessary dollars to maintain our system.”
Shares of Xcel rose 16 cents Tuesday to $20.20 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
