Minnesota

Xcel Energy’s 550 MW Unit 1 at its Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant in Minnesota began a planned four- to six-week refueling outage late last Friday, meaning the multi-state utility holding company will be drawing on added supplies from its other generation sources or purchasing more power in the wholesale market. The refueling comes after more than 500 days of continuous operation of the unit, Xcel said. The unit is one of two at the 1,100 MW plant in Red Wing, MN. One of the reactors typically is refueled every 18 months.

As a marketer had correctly predicted, the cash market was unable to sustain Tuesday’s brief burst of firmness and was down at nearly all points Wednesday. The previous day’s 4.1-cent drop by September futures played a minor bearish role, of course, but it was primarily the subpar late-summer cooling load and continuing warnings about storage facilities soon being unable to accommodate further injections in many locations (see related story) that drove most quotes downward.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling began serving a 24-year and six-month prison sentence Wednesday at a medium-security federal prison in Minnesota after an appeals court turned down his request to remain free while he challenges his sentence.

Ex-Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling will remain in the warmer climes of Houston — at least for the time being. Skilling was to report to a minimum security Minnesota prison on Tuesday to begin serving his 24-year sentence, but the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is considering his request to remain free while he appeals his convictions on 19 criminal counts (see Daily GPI, Oct. 13).

Aquila Inc. said Wednesday it signed definitive agreements to sell four utility businesses in Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Kansas for a total of $896.7 million, or about $20 million more than estimated in March when it announced its intention to divest the utility assets.

Indicative of the wholesale energy market volatility in approaching winter, Minnesota-based Xcel Energy Monday announced it will lower its electric utility rate increase request to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission by $41.5 million in the wake of what it called “recent decreases in natural gas prices nationwide.”

The attorneys general of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin sent letters last week to seven natural gas utilities requesting projections on natural gas prices and demand for the upcoming heating season. The attorneys general want utilities to explain the measures they are taking to protect consumers from rising gas prices.

Minnesota-based Xcel Energy, the holding company for the largest utility in Colorado, last Tuesday proposed an 11% increase for natural gas to cover its increased wholesale costs for the fuel. Together with the expected large increase in gas consumption with the outset of the winter months, the utility said customer bills could zoom up by 104% for typical residential customers and 94% for small businesses. If approved by state regulators, the higher rates would be effective Nov. 1.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Wednesday issued a certificate to Northern Natural Gas to construct a pipeline and compression expansion in Minnesota and Wisconsin.