Xcel runs two price books for AI data centers: one public, one confidential

Hearings opened on the public rulebook

Colorado's utility commission opened hearings on Wednesday on the rulebook that will govern every big power customer Xcel Energy▲+2.75% — Xcel Energy, up 2.75 percent today signs in the state, and the sharpest question is about the deals the rulebook might never see.

Xcel, Colorado's largest electric utility with 1.6 million customers, filed a "large load tariff" in April↗ for any new customer needing 50 megawatts or more: a $120,000 application fee, a 15-year contract, a commitment to pay for at least 80% of projected power, minimum monthly bills the company sizes at $22 million for a 500-megawatt center, and an exit fee covering every remaining bill ¹.

The complication sits in the same filing

A parallel "custom contract" pathway would let Xcel negotiate confidential deals, reviewed by the commission in 120 days, that need not carry the tariff's safeguards ¹. Xcel estimates it needs 2 gigawatts of new generating capacity just for data centers by 2030, against just over 7 gigawatts of total capacity today ¹. Where those gigawatts run, through the public tariff or the confidential pathway, is the fight.

The other price book is public but not yet approved

Google's proposed 780-megawatt data center in Pine Island, Minnesota, would be backed by 1,900 megawatts of new wind, solar and storage; Google▼−2.34% — Google, down 2.34 percent today would pay at least 75% of its contracted capacity every month and up to 96 months of on-peak demand charges if it walks ²⁴. That contract is pending before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission↗ ².

Xcel values the deal at about $1.1 billion in net benefits to other customers ². Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office counters that ratepayer exposure could exceed $1 billion once the contract ends or Google exits early, and faults Xcel for redacting nearly every dollar figure in the filing ².

Xcel chief executive Bob Frenzel told analysts in April↗ that the company's hyperscaler partnerships "set a high bar for responsible large load development," and that large-load growth "doesn't increase costs for our existing customers" ⁵.

The scale explains the urgency

Xcel's five-year capital plan is $60 billion ⁵, and its quarterly capital spending has nearly doubled in ten quarters↗ ⁶. The company already has 2 gigawatts of data centers contracted or under construction and told analysts it hopes to sign another 6 gigawatts by the end of 2027 ⁵. Ellison's office, reading the same strategy from the Minnesota filing, says the promise that big customers pay their own way is not yet demonstrated there ². Both commissions are being asked to decide whether that promise holds before the next gigawatts get signed ¹².

The middle ground, contested

Jack Ihle, Xcel's vice president for data centers and large loads, defended the tariff he filed in April as "a reasonable and balanced middle ground" between approaches that would impose commercially impractical obligations and ones that would shift costs to existing customers ¹. The Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group, wants 10-year terms; commission staff want 20 ¹.

The company also points to residential bills rising 1.55% a year since 2013, below inflation, and has offered to freeze Minnesota base rates until November 2028↗ to blunt the affordability backlash ²³. But eight Colorado municipalities have imposed or are weighing data center caps, and a 5,000-signature petition reached the commission this month ¹.

What to watch next

Minnesota's commission has not ruled on the Google contract; Colorado's hearings run for several days ¹². The number to watch is routing: how much of Xcel's data-center load gets signed under the public tariff and how much in confidential custom contracts ¹². Whatever lands there is what ratepayers, and the investors betting on Xcel's $60 billion buildout, are left holding ¹².