(KNSI) – Xcel Energy will refund customers for electricity charged after a disastrous equipment failure at the Sherco plant in Becker.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission recentlty has signed off on Xcel’s recently calculated refund amount, including interest. Starting in April, customers can expect to see a rebate of about $12 on average.
In October, the PUC ordered Xcel to pay back the $48 million it charged customers after the 2011 failure. The company was found to be partially negligent in operating and maintaining Sherco 3 and 48% at fault for the costs.
The accident at the giant generator inside Sherco 3 caused the massive turbine blades to be ripped from their mountings, whipping huge metal shards across the plant and sparking a fire. No one was hurt, but the generator was shut down for almost two years while $239 million in repairs were conducted.
Insurance paid for most of that, but the utility had to find a way to replace power at Sherco from its other plants. The PUC let Xcel charge its customers for it.
Xcel sued turbine manufacturer General Electric in 2013, saying corrosion and stress cracks in the blades were to blame and that the company had known about the deficiencies for years but did nothing to address them. The two sides settled in 2018, and Xcel directed the money back to its customers, but the utility’s insurance companies continued to fight it out in court with GE.
All the litigation was settled in 2020, but there has been a fight over replacement power costs ever since. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Commerce said customers were due a refund, but Xcel said no. Power replacement costs from 2011 to 2013, plus interest, totaled $71.5 million.
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