Xcel Energy to give Minnesota customers $318 million in refunds thanks to new tax credit

Xcel Energy said in a news release Monday afternoon they would be refunding Minnesotans a collective $318 million thanks, in part, to a new nuclear energy tax credit.

Xcel said residential customers would receive an average refund of $81 back on their bills.

According to the statement, over half of the $318 million, around $176 million, will be made up of a tax credit for nuclear energy production created by the Inflation Reduction Act from 2022.

“This is the first time customers will see savings from the federal tax credit on nuclear energy generation, which the company advocated for in recent law,” Xcel said.

The remaining $142 million will be made up of $94 million from lower fuel costs and $48 million related to an outage at a Sherco coal plant in 2011, Xcel said. Part of Xcel customers’ monthly bill is attributed to fuel costs which the company refunds when costs are lower than expected.

The announcement came amid recent interest in the state Legislature to end a moratorium on building new nuclear energy facilities, which would allow greater nuclear energy generation in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has yet to approve Xcel’s proposal.