File Under: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished....

Folks in Minnesota are conserving electricity -- so, their rates will go up....

Link here to Star-Tribune.com.

Xcel intends to file a request next week with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for a 2013 electric rate hike, with an interim increase to be sought on Jan. 1. Madden offered few details, but said higher rates are needed to pay for investments in Xcel's two nuclear power plants in Minnesota and to cover other cost increases.

CEO Ben Fowke said Xcel intends to seek additional rate increases in the years ahead in Minnesota under a new, multiyear regulatory process. He said Xcel also will file requests this year for a gas rate hike in Colorado and electric rate hikes in Texas, New Mexico and North Dakota.

Minnesota's largest electric utility is still making money. But its customers in the Midwest aren't demanding more power the way they used to.

For 2013, Xcel expects only a 0.5 percent increase in electricity demand, with even less growth in Minnesota and no growth in Wisconsin, she said.

Nuclear energy? Yes, nuclear is part of the "all-the-above" excepting fossil fuel.

I thought Xcel  had a wind farm in North Dakota, but googling reminded me that Xcel was mentioned but then canceled a wind farm project back in 2011. The "official" reason had to do with uncertainty surrounding regulations protecting migratory birds; my hunch it had to do more with the uncertainty of tax credits ending in 2012.