fbpx

Latest Posts

Home

Facebook

Twitter

Search
About
logo
Thinking Minnesota Archive

Education

Employee Freedom

Families

Governance

Health Care

Minnesota Economy

mobile logo
0 Comments
on February 03, 2020
Print
Sticky

Our Perspective: Xcel Quarterly Profits up 35 Percent, Buoyed by Rate Increases

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

The Star Tribune published a bombshell story last Thursday entitled "Xcel Quarterly Profits up 35 Percent, Buoyed by Rate Increases," which reported Xcel Energy's quarterly profits for the last quarter of 2019, but unfortunately, unless people understand energy policy in Minnesota, they would have no idea why this story is so explosive. According to the Star Tribune article: "Xcel Energy’s fourth-quarter profits rose 35% and beat Wall Street forecasts, aided by rate increases in several states." Higher electric and natural gas profit margins, primarily due to rate increases, added 37 cents per share in 2019, said a report Thursday by Travis Miller, a...

Continue reading
0 Comments
on July 25, 2019
Print
Sticky

Xcel Energy CEO Made $26.2 Million in 2018 As Your Electric Bill Reached a New All-Time High

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

The Star Tribune recently ran a piece announcing that Xcel Energy CEO Ben Fowke was the third-highest paid CEO in Minnesota in 2018 with a total pay of $26.2 million for the year. This wouldn't necessarily be outrageous compensation if Xcel Energy were a private company competing for your businesses in a free market, but the fact that Xcel customers are literally forced by the government to buy their electricity from the  government-approved monopoly makes this level of compensation unconscionable. Why does the Xcel CEO get paid so much? According to the Star Tribune: "Fowke’s annual bonus is based on five factors: employee...

Continue reading
0 Comments
on March 31, 2019
Print
Sticky

Doubling Down on Failure Installment Two: Generation, Utility Profits, Property Taxes, and Transmission

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

This article is the second installment explaining the findings of our new study entitled Doubling Down on Failure, How a 50 percent by 2030 Renewable Energy Standard Would Cost Minnesota $80.2 Billion.   Today, I’ll break down four main components that drive the cost of our energy system that we explored in our study. As you can see below, generation accounted for 59 percent of the total cost of electricity in the Renewable Scenario, utility profits constituted 22 percent, property taxes accounted for 11 percent, and transmission accounted for 8 percent of the total cost of electricity....

Continue reading