--- title: "Xcel runs two price books for AI data centers: one public, one confidential" description: "Colorado opened hearings this week on Xcel's public rulebook for big power customers, while the confidential custom contracts that could carry the biggest loads get only a 120-day review. Minnesota's attorney general wants the same question answered in the open: who pays if the AI boom cools." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Power" published: 2026-10-22T16:07:48.482Z modified: 2026-10-22T16:07:48.482Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/xcel-runs-two-price-books-for-ai-data-centers-one-public-one-confidential language: en keywords: "Xcel Energy, Data Centers, Utilities, Regulation, Google" --- # Xcel runs two price books for AI data centers: one public, one confidential > Colorado opened hearings this week on Xcel's public rulebook for big power customers, while the confidential custom contracts that could carry the biggest loads get only a 120-day review. Minnesota's attorney general wants the same question answered in the open: who pays if the AI boom cools. ## 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](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/xcel-energy) 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](https://coloradosun.com/2026/10/21/xcel-data-centers-energy-colorado-puc/) 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. *Chart: **Even the contract length is contested: 10, 15 or 20 years** Bar chart of proposed contract lengths for Xcel's Colorado large-load tariff: Data Center Coalition 10 years, Xcel Energy 15 years, Colorado PUC staff 20 years, with Xcel's bar highlighted.* *Proposed contract terms in years for Xcel's Colorado large-load tariff, from testimony and filings before the Colorado PUC. Sources: The Colorado Sun, October 21, 2026 [1]. [1]* ## The other price book is public but not yet approved Google's [proposed 780-megawatt data center](https://theinference.org/article/xcel-s-780-megawatt-google-deal-pays-even-if-the-ai-boom-cools-both-bets-wait-on-one-minnesota-ruling) in Pine Island, Minnesota, would be backed by 1,900 megawatts of new wind, solar and storage; [Google](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/alphabet) would pay at least 75% of its contracted capacity every month and up to 96 months of on-peak demand charges if it walks [2][4]. [That contract is pending before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission](https://thedailyenergy.com/google-xcel-pine-island-minnesota-data-center-deal/) [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](https://www.utilitydive.com/news/xcel-energy-ceo-google-deal-sets-template-for-large-load-tariff-strategy/819409/) 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](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000072903) [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 [1][2]. *Chart: **Xcel's quarterly capital spending has nearly doubled in ten quarters** Line chart of Xcel Energy quarterly capital spending from Q1 2024 through Q2 2026, rising from $1.537 billion to a peak of $3.438 billion in Q4 2025 and $2.948 billion in Q2 2026.* *Quarterly capital expenditures in USD billions, Xcel Energy SEC filings, Q1 2024 through Q2 2026, as compiled by company_series, retrieved October 22, 2026 [6]. [6]* ## 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](https://theinference.org/article/xcel-energy-offers-to-freeze-minnesota-rates-through-2028-paying-with-five-battery-projects-tax-credits) to blunt the affordability backlash [2][3]. 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 [1][2]. 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 [1][2]. Whatever lands there is what ratepayers, and the investors betting on Xcel's $60 billion buildout, are left holding [1][2]. ## Takeaway Colorado's hearings this week decide the public rulebook for Xcel's big power customers, but the confidential custom contracts that could carry the largest loads get only a 120-day review. With 2 gigawatts of data centers already contracted and 6 more gigawatts targeted by 2027, how much load routes through each book is the number that decides who pays if the AI boom cools. ## Sources 1. [The Colorado Sun, Colorado utility regulators to decide whether Xcel's data center tariff proposal protects customers, 21 October 2026](https://coloradosun.com/2026/10/21/xcel-data-centers-energy-colorado-puc/) 2. [The Daily Energy, Google and Xcel Energy's Minnesota Data Center Deal Draws Fire From State's Attorney General, 19 October 2026](https://thedailyenergy.com/google-xcel-pine-island-minnesota-data-center-deal/) 3. [MPR News, Electric rate hikes could be delayed 2 years with new Xcel Energy proposal, 18 October 2026](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/18/electric-rate-hikes-could-be-delayed-2-years-with-new-xcel-energy-proposal) 4. [CNBC, Google says it can build data centers the right way. Some experts and residents are skeptical, 19 October 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/19/how-data-centers-are-reshaping-americas-aging-grid-pine-island-minnesota-google.html) 5. [Utility Dive, Xcel Energy: Google deal sets template for large load tariff strategy, 6 May 2026](https://www.utilitydive.com/news/xcel-energy-ceo-google-deal-sets-template-for-large-load-tariff-strategy/819409/) 6. [Xcel Energy, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 22 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000072903) --- Xcel runs two price books for AI data centers: one public, one confidential — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/xcel-runs-two-price-books-for-ai-data-centers-one-public-one-confidential