PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — State regulators are telling Xcel Energy to get ready to stop charging South Dakota electricity customers a special fee each month that the company uses to encourage efficiency.
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday agreed to allow the surcharge-funded incentives for one more year. The extra fee would end after 2025.
Commission chair Kristie Fiegen wants Xcel to instead let residential and business customers choose how and when to reduce their electricity use.
“That’s my future directive,” she said.
The three-member commission initially broke three different ways.
Commissioner Chris Nelson wanted to approve the 2023 spending and renew the program for 2025, but without subsidies for horticultural LED lighting and heat pumps for water heating.
But commissioner Gary Hanson wanted heat pumps to stay in, while Fiegen wanted the extra charge to end.
Nelson then broke his motion into two parts. The commission agreed 3-0 to approve the 2023 report and the 2024 performance incentive.
Next, the commission agreed 3-0 on continuing the program for 2025 as recommended in a memo by PUC staff analyst Eric Paulson.
“I am willing to continue the program for another year with these provisions,” Nelson said. He encouraged Xcel to look at alternatives for beyond 2025 and acknowledged it wouldn’t be easy. “But at the end of the day the lift will be worth the reward,” he said.
The commission also approved Xcel’s transmission cost recovery package. Nelson cautioned that South Dakota customers shouldn’t be paying to have electricity shipped to other states.
“It’s not an open checkbook and we’re going to have to be very cognizant how this plays out,” Nelson told Steve Kolbeck, Xcel’s principal manager for South Dakota and a former member of the commission.
Replied Kolbeck, “Your point is well taken.”
