XTRA - Xcel Energy...The Denver Knowledge Fair featured 37 booths, a live fal-con, electric vehicles, the Xcel Energy Tiny House, and giveaways of ˚yers, brochures, pens, notepads

XTRANOVEMBER 30 , 2017 VOLUME 18 • ISSUE 2

IRMA AID

Florida work another reminder of the beauty

of mutual aid

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TechnologyCompany hosts its �rst-ever Technology and Innovation Day.

KnowledgeTrio of events showcase team spirit, enthusiasm and ingenuity of Xcel Energy employees.

Hurricane IrmaCrews respond to travel across country and provide mutual aid after storm strikes Florida.

Cyber DefenseNew dedicated center en-ables 24/7, cyber-security monitoring and incident response for the company.

Day of ServiceEmployees rise to the oc-casion and give their time and talent to more than 100 nonpro�t organizations across the service territory.

PeopleThe most recent Friends We’ll Miss and Retirements.

On the CoverXcel Energy sent 162 full-time employees – includ-ing 141 linemen – from across the company to Florida in September, answering calls for mutual assistance from Tampa Electric and Florida Power and Light. For more infor-mation, please see page eight.

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(Editor’s Note: Ben Fowke, chairman, president and CEO, periodically writes a blog on XpressNet, as well as other articles and communications. Xtra features Fowke’s comments on a recurring basis to share his thoughts with a wider audience.)

I enjoyed the recent pomp and circumstance that accompanied our very own Beyond the Yellow Ribbon celebration, starting with a terri�c rendition of the national anthem by employee PK Vaajthoj.

It was rewarding to receive our of�cial proclama-tion as a Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Company by Gov. Mark Dayton on behalf of the state of Minnesota.

As you know, we’ve worked hard to become an employer of choice for military veterans and have exceeded our military hiring goals. More than 1,000 military vets work at Xcel Energy and that number keeps growing.

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon formalizes our status as one of the top military-friendly organizations for our ongoing support of veterans and their families.

My thanks to the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

steering committee members, under the leadership of Marvin McDaniel, for their heavy lifting, as well as to Lacey Golonka for driving our excellent military recruiting results. Thanks also to all of the ceremony participants and all of the members of the Xcel Energy family who have served and continue to serve our country. Indeed, you are valuable contributors to our team.

Going above and beyond

CEO Message

“Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

formalizes our status as one of

the top military-friendly organiza-

tions for our ongoing support of

veterans and their families.”


4 XTRA NOVEMBER 30, 2017

Technology and Innovation Day

Hundreds of leaders, employees and technology ven-dors recently attended a �rst-of-its-kind Technology and Innovation Day at the Minneapolis Headquarters Campus.

The day began with a session for leadership, including a panel discussion, presentations from senior leaders and a thought-provoking keynote address. An afternoon session followed, open to the entire company, which featured vendor demonstrations of innovative technology solutions and showed some of the ways technology and innovation will help empower Xcel Energy to meet future challenges.

“To become the innovative company of the future, we must deliver for the customer of the future,” said Ben Fowke, chair-man, president and CEO. “That means strategically generating ideas and selecting the technology that will allow us to trans-form just as rapidly as the technologies that are transforming our industry, our relationships and our processes.” While the event focused primarily on technology and oppor-tunities to interact with representatives from vendor partners, one key message was that technological innovation alone will not position the company for a strong future.

During the morning session, guest speakers from Gart-ner, IBM and McKinsey, along with Xcel Energy executives, underscored the importance of leaders and employees being receptive to using technology to improve how work is done. This kind of openness and curiosity is a key part of how employees are delivering by striving for excellence, said Dave Harkness, senior vice president of Business Systems and CIO.

“Innovation isn’t just about inventing the next iPad,” Hark-ness said. “The key is getting people to see what’s possible. We hosted this event so employees had a chance to see what’s out there and what’s possible.” Interest in the event proved high as more than 600 people attended the open house. “I felt the event gave us an opportunity to better under-stand Xcel Energy as a customer and provide a more concise clear message as to what Xcel Energy’s roadmap of the future is,” said Tammy Vitale, with Verizon. “I want to take this type of conference to my other customers and talk about the bene�ts I see as a vendor for companies to do this, so everyone wins.”

“I’m excited for the future and how we can continue to


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Technology and Innovation Day

leverage technology to increase our productivity, better meet our customers’ needs and drive cost savings,” said Marvin McDan-iel, executive vice president, group president of Utilities and CAO. “Cost savings that we can then reinvest in new technology and innovation. It’s a win-win.” McDaniel noted the importance of performing as one team – working across organizations to solve problems and being willing to change for the good of the whole. He also discussed the importance of embracing a more agile approach and increas-ing the company’s speed to market. At one of the more visible booths, RealWear in partner-ship with Verizon, employees donned a hardhat out�tted with augmented reality technology. With a lens and a tiny computer, the hardhat enables its wearer to safely access information and manipulate that information with simple hand gestures. “You can see the implications for training,” said Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president of Gas. “It’s amazing to walk around and realize the incredible ways technology can impact our work.” When it comes to �nding new ways of working, the range

of possibilities are endless, she said. Speakers at the event were clear – for innovation to succeed, it needs to vary accord-ing to the work being done and even the person doing it. “When we think about making positive changes, it’s criti-cal that we think about the real and immediate impact those changes have on our daily work,” said Judy Poferl, senior vice president, Corporate Secretary and Executive Services. Poferl shared with leaders how important their role is in translating corporate strategy and innovation for their employ-ees, so those concepts are real and meaningful. “Words like ‘innovation’ and ‘transformation’ can seem huge,” Poferl said. “But change is small, one day at a time, and it’s personal.” “We are in an exciting time at Xcel Energy,” said Sri Koneru, event host and senior director of Enterprise Systems, Business Systems. “Our company is evolving, and events like Technology and Innovation Day will be instrumental for us to keep innovative conversations alive as we make technology a tangible part of our continuous-improvement journey.”

TechnologyXcel Energy leaders, including Dave Harkness (center), Bob Frenzel (above) and Marvin McDaniel (immediate left) recently took part in the �rst- of-its-kind Technology and Innovation Day at the MinneapolisHeadquarters Campus.



Knowledge FairsA trio of Knowledge Fairs, held in Denver, Amarillo

and Minneapolis, recently showcased the team spirit, enthusiasm and ingenuity of Xcel Energy employees.

Under the theme “Getting Better Every Day,” the fairs exposed thousands of employees to countless examples of how Xcel Energy departments work daily to improve their processes, become more ef�cient, focus on the customer and make the company a great place to work.

“We were thrilled to see so many people join us for all three fairs and take advantage of an opportunity to learn more about other parts of the company,” said Cherrie Archuleta, prin-cipal strategy and performance consultant and lead coordinator

of the events. “To date, this is the largest set of Knowledge Fairs we have ever held across the service territory.”

With 45 booths spread out over much of the second �oor of the 401 Nicollet headquarters building, the fair had something for everyone, she said of the Minneapolis fair. From hearing details about the Pollinator Initiative and Builders Call Line to learning how Xcel Energy supports diversity and inclusion, attendees were privy to the latest news and developments from a variety of departments.

The Denver Knowledge Fair featured 37 booths, a live fal-con, electric vehicles, the Xcel Energy Tiny House, and giveaways of �yers, brochures, pens, notepads and lots of pieces of candy.


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Knowledge Fairs “For anyone new to Xcel Energy, the Knowledge Fair is a must,” said Garrett Dietrick, director of Security Governance and Risk Services. “It was a great place to meet and learn more about Xcel Energy, as well as share more with others about what you do and how your organization supports the company.” Organized and led by the same team of employee volun-teers, the Amarillo event closed out the 2017 Knowledge Fair season. The �nal fair, held at Xcel Energy’s new headquarters in Amarillo, saw another strong turnout, Archuleta said, with more than 600 employees making the rounds at the event. As was the case at the earlier fairs, attendees were drawn in to learn more about other parts of the company, connect

with coworkers, and experience the booths, displays and other engaging elements. “It was great to see so many informative and engaging reasons for employees to get together and learn more about the company,” she said. “It’s a lot of work to put on these fairs, but easy to see how valuable the results are from doing so. “At all three events, our booth hosts said they enjoyed meeting new people and sharing various aspects of their work,” Archuleta added. “The fairs de�nitely helped give employees a broad view of what the entire company does to ‘get better every day.’”

Getting Better Every DayUnder the theme “Getting Better Every Day,” the Knowledge Fairs provided numerous examples of how Xcel Energy departments work to improve their processes, become more ef�cient and focus on the customer.

Trio of events showcases employee ingenuity and team spirit


After nine long, hot and steamy days without electric-ity, a Florida resident wasn’t about to let a crew out of her sight when an Xcel Energy truck came into her Fort Myers neighborhood.

“I turned around and this woman was right behind me – she followed us around everywhere,” said Brandon Zahn, a working foreman from Plainview, Texas, who made the journey to Florida to help with Hurricane Irma restoration work. “She didn’t want to let us out of her sight.”

Zahn assured her he would check back with her once they determined the issues in the area. In the end, the crew realized they would need to return the next day with a specialized piece of

equipment to �nish the job. Zahn went to let her know. “I told her it would have to be the next day, and she was very appreciative,” he said. “Knowing we were there to help, and that we would be back, was all that mattered to her.” (Please see the letter to the editor on page 15 for the rest of the story.) Xcel Energy sent 162 full-time employees – including 141 linemen – from across the company to Florida in September, answering calls for mutual assistance from Tampa Electric and Florida Power and Light (FPL). Fort Myers became the contingent’s second stop, after spending days in the Tampa Bay area helping restore power to some of the nearly 750,000 Tampa Electric customers without

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ANSWERING THE ANSWERING THE CALL FOR IRMA AID

Employees from across the company head to Florida to help


power. They moved south to restore power to a part of FPL’s remaining nearly 350,000 customers without power at the time. That number was down from the more than 4.5 million customers without power after Hurricane Irma �rst hit.

The Fort Myers area proved much more dif�cult terrain to work in, Zahn said, due to a lack of easements – meaning the use of trucks was limited. With most of the poles, lines and equipment located in backyards, climbing day in and day out was required in the 90-degree heat. He guessed the work was about four times as dif�cult as the Tampa area effort.

“It was pretty strenuous,” Zahn said. “You just stay focused on the goal.

“But people’s kindness was our motivation to work through the challenges we faced,” he added. “The outpouring from the public was just great. If it was mealtime, people were showing up with pizza, home-cooked food, Gatorade and water.” At other times, residents just drove up to shake hands and say thank you, he said. Several were in tears. Zahn, who also completed restoration work after the Okla-homa tornadoes and Hurricane Sandy, said this journey was his favorite, by far. There are plenty of friendly folks everywhere, he said, but Florida was special.

“They got to know us a bit,” he said. “And it was great to have the opportunity to go and help people again. Those opportu-

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ANSWERING THE CALL FOR IRMA AID

Employees from across the company head to Florida to help


nities are worth more than words can say to me.”James Flynn, a lineman/troubleman from Denver who has

also been on two previous mutual-aid deployments, said this one was similar except for one factor – the drive out – which he termed “outrageous.”

One set of company trucks went all of 140 miles in 17 hours one day near Atlanta. Many Floridians who had left the state ahead of the storm all headed back at about the same time, causing massive traf�c jams for a day.

Fuel was tight, as well. The state patrol let company trucks in at one truck stop to refuel, Flynn said, when supplies were short. But in the end, it meant just one more day of “windshield time,” he added.

“We got to look at the same people for a good long while,” added Dustin Taylor, operations manager from Denver, discussing the 17-hour driving day.

Taylor said the effort was well-run and organized, although the scene is always the “same madhouse” when working to get electricity back on for hundreds of thousands of people.

“When you bring in thousands of people to help, it can get a little chaotic,” he said. “It takes a lot of coordination to keep

everyone safe. Overall, it was pretty smooth sailing.” For Chester Brown, director of Design and Construction/ Texas North from Amarillo, his �rst mutual-aid trip provided a huge learning curve and was a great experience. He recalled a number of occasions when clapping and screaming �lled the air when the electricity went back on in neighborhoods.

“That’s a pretty good testament as to why guys want to go down and do this work,” he said. “The people were all very friendly. Even after being out for seven to 10 days, they were bringing us food and drinks.

“It’s about people helping people, and it’s really great to see,” he added. “We all banded together, and can now look back on the largest electric restoration effort in U.S. history and be pretty proud of the work.”

One disappointment for Flynn involved alligators. He only got to see three from the road and had hoped to see more of them “up close and personal.”

Otherwise, “everyone was very friendly and understanding,” he said of the restoration effort. “It takes you out of your element, and is a nice change of pace and good camaraderie.

“It’s just fun. I really enjoy storm work.”



Hurricane IrmaXcel Energy sent 162 full-time employees – including 141 linemen – from across the company to Florida in September, answering calls for mutual assistance from Tampa Electric and Florida Power and Light (FPL). Pictured here and on pages eight and nine are scenes from the largest electric restoration in U.S. history.

11 NOVEMBER 30, 2017


In sports, playing defense is as important as playing offense. At times, the same can be said for business.

Xcel Energy’s recently opened Cyber Defense Center (CDC) brings a suite of entirely new cybersecurity capabilities to the company. As a dedicated center enabling 24/7, cybersecurity monitoring and incident response, the CDC is an integral part of efforts to strengthen the company’s abilities to detect and respond to cyber threats, said Jim Somborovich, senior director of Cybersecurity Operations. The CDC project started just over a year ago. And a grand-opening ceremony recently honored its completion at 1800 Larimer in Denver. “We’ve built a great foundation and are setting the bar for the energy sector,” Somborovich said. “It is part of our ongoing efforts to continuously improve our cybersecurity in all areas, and defend and respond as needed.” The center is tasked with security monitoring for malicious

and/or suspicious activities requiring further review. When spotted, that activity undergoes a protocol, including:• Containment (Isolate potential issues and prevent issues from

spreading further)• Mitigation (Determine how the issue started and implement

preventative controls)• Remediation (Correct any impact to the environment) The harmful activities are by now – or should be – familiar to employees, such as spam, phishing, viruses and malware infections. The new CDC is fully staffed, with a senior manager head-ing a team of 19 employees, all with a high level of expertise, he said. Three tiers of analysts are included to handle the varying degrees of severity of intrusions. “The technology used in the center is up and running, our playbooks have been built out and we have run through numerous exercises,” Somborovich said. “We made a commitment to the board of directors, which we met, and were up and running by Oct. 1.


CYBER DEFENSE CENTERCYBER DEFENSE CENTERSUITE OF NEW CAPABILITIES ON BOARD AT 1800 LARIMER


“We’re here to help prevent cybersecurity events that could impact customers, the company, the community and the country,” he added. “Unfortunately, we can’t prevent everything, so we prevent everything we can, and detect and respond to everything else.” Closely related to the CDC are two other centers at 1800 Larimer – the Integrated Operations Center (IOC) and the Network Operations Center (NOC). Created more than a decade ago, the IOC was built to provide a centralized control center for IT services across Xcel Energy, including servers, applications and overall availability. The IOC ensures the reliability of those services through monitoring, incident response and change oversight, while also serving as a central point of coordination for Business Systems support teams. It maintains close partnerships with other de-partments including Commercial Operations, and the control and contact centers.

The NOC was built three years ago with a mission to man-age the operational telecommunications and network services within Xcel Energy, including routers, switches and connections between buildings. It provides monitoring, incident response, and change planning, as well as control of the company’s diverse voice and data communication networks. Those networks are essential to business continuity, he said, and utilize diverse technologies across the operating regions. “If the power goes out, there are no ATMs, there are no computers, there are no street lights, there is no power to keep food cold,” Somborovich said, emphasizing the importance of the three centers. “Xcel Energy is critical infrastructure and we need to keep the lights on,” he added. “We’re here to mitigate the risk of attacks by dealing with threats in a consistent, constant and persistent manner.”


CYBER DEFENSE CENTER DefenseThe company’s new Cyber Defense Center is a dedicated center enabling 24/7, cybersecurity monitoring and incident response. At top, a recent grand opening was held for the center, complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the new facility.



(Editor’s Note: The new I Deliver and Innovator Awards at Xcel Energy reward performance when teams and employees deliver greater-than-ex-pected results. These award opportunities are designed to help fuel collab-oration, innovation, continuous improvement and an enhanced customer experience. Xtra is running a series of articles on select winners.)

Innovator Awards

• A cross-functional team gained approval from regulators for Xcel Energy’s largest-ever, wind-portfolio addition (1,550 megawatts) in Minnesota. At its peak, this project will posi-tively impact earnings per share by approximately 20 cents and will permit the company to own 75 percent of the effort – a �rst of its kind. One of the most innovative accomplishments delivered by the team involved a new regulatory resource-acquisition process, which allowed for a faster timeframe and ensured the capture of full production tax credits. This modi�ed process, approved by the Department of Commerce and the Public Utilities Commission, led to numerous vast improvements, including a six-month completion from RFP to contract awarding – a compressed timeframe compared to the usual nine to 12 months. The new approach has a positive �nancial impact for customers and shareholders.

• A team of Nuclear employees developed a new, alternative approach for nuclear-fuel design at Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant. The resulting reduction in fuel resulted in $4 to $5 million in fuel savings for each unit, and the savings will be sustainable going forward for all future operating cycles. In addition, the design reduced the number of fuel assemblies required to operate the plant, increased time between refuel-ing outages, and did so all while meeting stringent nuclear fuel licensing and technical requirements.

• Members of a project team leveraged their strong relation-ships with communities to create a unique solar-garden program – tailored to the needs of Wisconsin customers and policy makers, and aligned with company strategies. Receiv-ing approval for a solar-energy product in a state where that is not a top priority took innovation and �exibility, and resulted in process and cost-management improvements along the way. The team enrolled subscriptions totaling approximately 90 percent of the output of a pair of one-megawatt solar gar-dens that are now under development – a result far greater than expected – with a third garden now possible. The team developed the program model, gained regulatory approval, co-ordinated efforts to negotiate purchased-power agreements, and served as the primary point of contact in ongoing dealings with customers and the solar developer.

I Deliver Awards

• Following numerous pump failures, a nuclear engineering team advocated for the redesign of internal components to eliminate the problem. The team worked with industry peers to research, benchmark and develop a list of vulnerabilities. It also worked with industry subject-matter experts and third-party vendors to validate that the redesigned components would eliminate the issues. Through the work the team per-formed and oversight it provided, the plant was able to obtain components in time to install during an upcoming outage.

• An engineering manager and consulting engineer in Trans-mission reassessed the need to replace large transformers, and in doing so, avoided a capital expense of more than $7.5 million. The pair worked with an industry expert to analyze speci�cations and test reports to calculate new emergency capabilities. This allowed the company to publish revised emergency ratings for the units, eliminating the need to replace the assets.

• A tax analyst and tax consultant in Colorado worked with PwC to complete a research and experimentation (R&E) study. During the effort, business areas that had previously been excluded from the study or were covered at too high a level were identi�ed. Recognizing that researching these business areas would likely require additional time and expense from PwC, the employees assisted in the effort to dig into these costs, holding over 100 meetings with the business areas to gather the necessary support. As a result, Xcel Energy will recognize a $4 million net increase to its 2016 R&E credits, which should be repeatable in future years.

• The PTT data-conversion team helped improve the company’s operational performance and ef�ciency, which impacted mul-tiple business areas. The team cleaned up SAP maintenance plans and consolidated assets into one integrated solution within SAP to provide better data ef�ciency and management. These enhancements position Xcel Energy for future auto-mated opportunities, including the automation of repeatable work and maintenance. The effort will help Xcel Energy more fully utilize the SAP tool in the future and sets the foundation for ongoing analytics and data governance. It also improves business decision making, construction planning and opera-tions, while reducing potential �nes.

LATEST AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED



LATEST AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

‘To the awesome linemen of Xcel Energy’

Dear Xcel Energy: Thank you to the awesome linemen of Xcel Energy who restored power in Fort Myers, Florida, on Sept. 20. Thank you so much for helping us out. We appreciate you so much. God bless you and your families. Take care and be safe.

—Kathy Babcock, Fort Myers, Florida

‘What a beautiful thing’

Dear Xcel Energy: I just want to say what a beautiful thing it was for your company to send its employees to help the people in Florida. It made me so proud to see that convoy of trucks leaving Amarillo to be on that “mercy mission.” I know that each of them is an individual hero. They have the heart and compassion to go beyond their regular duties. They had to sacri�ce their time with their own families to go on their mission – all in the name of being a neighbor. Please express my admiration to these employees. I am so proud of them and your company – truly service in the “Panhandle Spirit.”

—Meade Humphries, Canyon, Texas

‘It made us feel that we were not forgotten’

Dear Xcel Energy: I am writing to praise and commend a team of your workers that restored our power after Hurricane Irma in Florida. The team consisted of Brandon Zahn, Logan Garner, Dustin Bach and Dustin Medina. These guys were amazing. They worked together ef�ciently and quietly in a tight space, in the heat and humidity. We had a power pole fall during the storm, which caused us to lose power for nine long, hot days. It was dif�cult for us to get any information from our power company. For days, we did not see a power company truck anywhere in our area. It was frustrating to not be able to communicate with anyone about our status.

Finally, about day eight, I saw one of your Xcel Energy trucks drive down my block, and I �agged it down. The driver, Brandon Zahn, stopped and took the time to talk to us about our situation. Since my house is in a residential area with houses close together, fences between the houses and small backyards, Brandon explained that his crew did not have a needed piece of equipment, and that they needed to �nd one before they could replace our power pole. He assured me that he would do his best to get one and would try to get one before the day was over. Unfortunately, this did not happen, but Brandon came back to us to apologize for not being able to help us. He also assured us that we were not forgotten, and that a new pole had been ordered for us and that we would be taken care of. His compassion for us and the fact that he took the time to report back to us was so appreciated. It made us feel that we were not forgotten, and it made a big difference. The next day, a slew of Xcel Energy trucks arrived at our house at about 8:30 a.m. Brandon, Logan and the two Dustins worked diligently until they completed the job at about 4:30 p.m. The entire crew was polite, respectful, professional and extremely hard working. They are a credit to your organization, and should be valued and commended. The compassion and the courtesy they afforded us made a bad situation a lot easier to take.

—Karen Scarito, Fort Myers, Florida

Letters

On the road to Florida


Xcel Energy employees rose to the occasion – giving their time and talent to more than 100 nonpro�t organiza-tions across Colorado, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin for the company’s annual Day of Service.

“We asked and you delivered,” said Liz Gardner, social investments representative for Colorado. “Because of you, the day was a record-breaking success, and your efforts made the communities where we operate better.”

Over the course of the day, volunteers made changes that could last a lifetime. They logged nearly 13,000 volunteer hours, and the collective contributions made in communities are valued at more than $425,000.

Examples of some outcomes included:• 155,000 meals prepared for Colorado families• 12,000 pounds of food prepared for Minnesota families• Backpacks and supplies packed that will impact more than

3,000 teachers and children affected by Hurricane Harvey• 525 �eece blankets made for homeless veterans and children

• More than 200 trees and shrubs planted in local parks• Countless weeds pulled, �owers planted and gardens

harvested• Dozens of rooms, picnic tables and fences painted• More than �ve miles of trails restored• 120 sandwiches made for homeless children• And so much more. “Remember, there is need in our communities 365 days a year,” said Sam Holsen, community engagement representa-tive in Minnesota. “After six months of employment, each Xcel Energy employee is eligible for 40 hours of Volunteer Paid Time Off per year, so be sure to get involved and stay engaged in the many opportunities to give back.” “Xcel Energy employees are dedicated to giving back to the communities we serve, and our Day of Service provides us with a large-scale opportunity to help many organizations,” Gardner added. “Coming together like this for a day allows us to make an even more focused, positive impact in our communities.”

Day of ServiceDay of ServiceEmployees give time and talent to communitiesDay of ServiceEmployees give time and talent to communitiesDay of Service




CommunityOver the course of this year’s Day of Service, volunteers logged nearly 13,000 volunteer hours, and their collective contribu-tions made to communities were valued at more than $425,000. Pictured here are scenes from around the service territory.


People

Friends We’ll MissKenneth A. Anderson, 82, shift engineer, High Bridge Plant, St. Paul, Minn., died on Sept. 30, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1960 to 1993.

Freda Benintendi, 75, adminis-tration assistant, Customer and Field Operations, Lipan Distribu-tion Center, Denver, Colo., died on Feb. 2, 2017. She worked for Xcel Energy from 1981 to 2010.

Randall Bishop, 63, electronic measure specialist, Operations, Materials Distribution Center, Henderson, Colo., died on Sept. 29, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1984 to 2015.

Charles W. Blesi, 90, electrical maintenance supervisor, Protec-tion and Electrical Maintenance, Wisconsin, died on Aug. 19, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1948 to 1988.

Barbara E. Booth, 83, personal account representative, Customer Service, Pueblo, Colo., died on Sept. 11, 2017. She worked for PSCo for 1957 to 1994.

Richard Brass�eld, 68, lead service-�tter B, North Metro Gas Operations, Arvada Service Center, Arvada, Colo., died on Sept. 30, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1974 to 2009.

Lois M. Callahan, 90, customer service representative, Bannock Center, Denver, Colo., died on Aug. 30, 2017. She worked for PSCo from 1963 to 1986.

Marvin J. Carr, 95, clerk, Gas Distribution, Lipan Service Center, Denver, Colo., died on June 15, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1959 to 1984.

Frank A. Cosolo, 86, information services and training manager, Wheat Ridge, Colo., died on Sept. 5, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1953 to 1992.

Thomas C. Epson Jr., 74, vault-man cableman, Electric Distribu-tion Under Ground Construction, Seventh Avenue Service Center, Denver, Colo., died on Aug. 27, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1977 to 2010.

Bill J. Farris, 90, district manager, Borger, Texas, died on Feb. 25, 2017. He worked for SPS from 1951 to 1986.

John Groomer, 87, line general foreman, Panhandle Divi-sion, Southwest Service Center, Amarillo, Texas, died on Sept. 9, 2017. He worked for SPS from 1955 to 1993.

R.F. Heitzman, 94, technician specialist , Southwest Substations, Colorado, died on Aug. 18, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1971 to 2010.

Daniel L. Hesselberg, 57, gas technician, Gas Construction, Com-merce Street, La Crosse, Wis., died on June 2, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1994 to 2011.

Steven J. Hurlburt, 47, journey-man lineman, Western Service Center, Eau Claire, Wis., died on Sept. 6, 2017. He worked for NSP from 2001 to 2017.

Odin L Huseth, 86, district troubleman, Amery, Wis., died on Sept. 7, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1953 to 1990.

Joseph T. Jilk, 62, assistant plant equipment operator, Operations, Prairie Island Nuclear Plant, Welch, Minn., died on Sept. 17, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1981 to 2017.

James H. Jamerson, 82, meter reader, Southern Meter Reading, Ralls, Texas, died on Aug. 22, 2017. He worked for SPS from 1977 to 1999.

Jacqueline M. King, 85, associ-ate analyst, Customer Operations, Centre Pointe, Roseville, Minn., died on July 17, 2017. She worked for NSP from 1984 to 1997.

Alvin Lalim, 86, area customer service coordinator, Consumer Services, Glenwood District Of�ce, St. Cloud, Minn., died on May. 5, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1956 to 1998.

Daniel T. Lashinski, 88, garage foreman, Transportation, Brooklyn Center Service Center, Brooklyn Center, Minn., died on Aug 18, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1957 to 1989.

Charles B. Loomis Jr., 79, lead station electrician, Gas Produc-tion, Wescott Plant, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., died on Aug. 30, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1961 to 1995.

Dale P. Maki, 70, blacksmith-welder in charge, Electric Repair Center, Maple Grove Materials Complex, Maple Grove, Minn., died on Sept. 9, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1970 to 2006.

Edwin J. Masewicz, 91, electric distribution supervisor, Overhead, Wisconsin, died on Sept. 8, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1948 to 1982.

Jacob R. Okerglicki, 86, line-man, Overhead, Wisconsin, died on Sept. 4, 2016. He worked for NSP from 1957 to 1993.

Clair P. Peterson, 90, meter reader thereafter, Meter Reading, Chestnut Service Center, Min-neapolis, Minn., died on Sept. 2, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1953 to 1988.

Elaine Owen, 77, clerk, Gas Distribution, Lipan Service Center, Denver, Colo., died on Aug. 2, 2017. She worked for PSCo from 1978 to 2005.

Lillian Paananen, 94, stenogra-pher, Insurance and Claims, Gen-eral Of�ce, Minneapolis, Minn., died on Sept. 9, 2017. She worked for NSP from 1954 to 1973.

Gerald R. Rasmussen, 86, auto-matic operator, Overhead Electric, Eau Claire, Wis., died on Feb. 24, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1957 to 1989.

John W. Reber, 85, supervising engineer, Levelland Service Center, Levelland, Texas, died on Aug. 21, 2017. He worked for SPS from 1956 to 1994.

Vincent Reed, 93, customer account specialist, Business Operations, Grand Forks Service Center, Grand Forks, N.D., died on Sept. 22, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1953 to 1983.

Robert D. Riemer, 82, electric construction superintendent, Electric Operations, Fargo Service Center, Fargo, N.D., died on Aug. 28, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1968 to 1996.

Richard M. Rudolph, 73, senior plant engineer, Hydro Construction, Eau Claire, Wis., died on Aug. 27, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1986 to 2007.

Larry Sipe, 73, customer receiv-ables specialist, Customer Receiv-ables, Centre Pointe, Roseville, Minn., died on Sept. 23, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1997 to 2015.

Augusto Skinner Jr., 84, custo-dian thereafter, Building Services, Headquarters Of�ce Building, Den-ver, Colo., died on Aug. 6, 2017. He woked for PSCo from 1964 to 1994.

Ivan J. Smith, 95, manager, Electric Operations, Colorado, died on Sept. 26, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1947 to 1982.

Paul Snowberg, 74, drafting specialist, Prairie Island Nuclear Plant, Prairie Island, Minn., died on Sept. 9, 2017. He worked for NSP from 1966 to 1999.

David Varela, 55, meter reader thereafter, Operations, Ft Collins, Colo., died on Sept. 28, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 2002 to 2017.

Ronald Watkinson, 78, learning consultant, Technical Training, Hampden Park West, Sheridan, Colo., died on Sept. 9, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1961 to 1996.

Lottie A. Wilson, 97, senior key punch operator, System and Computer Services, Colorado, died on Sept. 3, 2017. She worked for PSCo from 1953 to 1980.

Robert W. Works, 68, utilityman thereafter, Facilities Operations, Kipling Service Center, Lakewood, Colo., died on Sept. 26, 2017. He worked for PSCo from 1972 to 2008.

RetiringDan Britten, working foreman, Electric Meter, Northeast Service Center, Amarillo, Texas, retired on Oct. 31, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 40 years.

Claudia Bruber, director, Talent Management, Talent Consulting and Learning, Minnesota Head-quarters, Minneapolis, Minn., re-tired on Dec. 15, 2017. She worked for Xcel Energy for 20 years.

Dan Crofoot, nuclear �eet corpo-rate functional area manager, Per-formance Improvement, Minnesota Headquarters, Minneapolis, Minn., retired on June 9, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 33 years.



David B. Dalum ([email protected]), solutions consultant, Business Systems, Headquarters, Minneapolis, Minn., retired on Aug. 11, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 41 years.

Mark Fox, general manager, Power Production, Energy Supply, Colorado, retired on July 26, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 33 years.

Tim G. Gorman, overhead fore-man, Electrical Overhead, Edina Service Center, Edina, Minn., retired on Oct. 6, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 31 years.

Steve Hill, truck driver, Trucking, Maple Grove, Minn., retired on Oct. 20, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 37 years.

Mary Hinich, billing support ana-lyst, Billing Products and Services, Roseville, Minn., retired on Sept. 8, 2017. She worked for Xcel Energy for 40 years.

Mark Holmberg ([email protected]), project manager, Engineering and Construction, Headquarters, Minneapolis, Minn., retired on Sept. 29, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 33 years.

Bernard Horstmann, lineman foreman, Electrical, Southeast Service Center, Denver, Colo., retired on Oct. 31, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 34 years.

Patrick Jenhoff, senior operator, Distribution Operations, Chestnut Service Center, Minneapolis, Minn., retired on Sept. 28, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 34 years.

Merlin W. Knuth, shop helper, ERC, Maple Grove, Minn., retired on Nov. 10, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 35 years.

John Martinac ([email protected]), senior gas operations technician, Technical Services, Lipan Distribution Center, Denver, Colo., retired on Sept. 29, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 38 years.

Michael J. Martinez ([email protected]), planner, De-sign Department, Kipling Service Center, Lakewood, Colo., retired on May 31, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 30 years.

Stephen J. Nappa ([email protected]), gas technician specialist, Northwest Gas Operations, St. Cloud Service Center, St. Cloud, Minn., retired on Sept. 14, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 32 years.

Rosalie Perez, skilled labor, Substation Shop, Lipan Distribu-tion Center, Denver, Colo., retired in November 2017. She worked for Xcel Energy for 29 years.

Gregory A. Popehn ([email protected]), operator and lead repairman/shift engineer, Operations, Black Dog Power Plant, Burnsville, Minn., retired on Aug. 18, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 32 years.

Edwin Rodriguez ([email protected]), �tter serviceman B, Gas Street, Valencia Service Cen-ter, Denver, Colo., retired on Jan. 1, 2018. He worked for Xcel Energy for 36 years.

Jim Rousselange, lead equip-ment operator, Yard, Sherco Plant, Becker, Minn., retired on Nov. 2, 2017.

Gary Shwantz ([email protected]), safety consultant, Safety, Sherco Plant, Becker, Minn., retired on Nov. 15, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 38 years.

Vic Scott, control specialist, Operations, Fort St. Vrain, Plat-teville, Colo., retired on Oct. 6, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 24 years.

Philip Spaulding, principal engineer, System Planning, Maple Grove, Minn., retired on Sept. 5, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 29 years.

Don L. Thorne ([email protected]), working foreman, Substation Operations Main-tenance, Amarillo Substations, Amarillo, Texas, retired on Nov. 30, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 42 years.

Gary W. Vellieux ([email protected]), gas construction fore-man, Gas Construction, Rice Street Service Center, St. Paul, Minn., re-tired on Oct. 30, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 30 years.

Donald A. Webber ([email protected]), principal technical instructor, Training, Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, Mon-ticello, Minn., retired on Aug. 31, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 12 years.

Joe Weinzetl (joe�[email protected]), garage foreman, Fleet, Shorewood Garage, Shorewood, Minn., retired on Dec. 29, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 31 years.

Shirley F. White ([email protected]), janitor yardman, Maintenance, Tolk Generating Station, Muleshoe, Texas, retired on Sept. 29, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 36 years.

Tom Zimmerman, district repre-sentative, Northwest Overhead, Albany District Of�ce, Albany, Minn., retired on Oct. 2, 2017. He worked for Xcel Energy for 37 years.

Continuing EducationAnna Mohegan, team lead, Correspondence, Eau Claire, Wis., received a Masters of Liberal Arts in Sustainability from Harvard University Extension School, November 2017.

News Brief

Third quarter earnings announcedXcel Energy recently reported 2017 third quarter

GAAP and ongoing earnings of $492 million, or $0.97 per share, compared with $458 million, or $0.90 per share, in the same period in 2016.

Earnings for the third quarter of 2017 increased due to higher electric margins to recover infrastructure invest-ments, along with a lower effective tax rate and lower operating and maintenance expenses, partially offset by higher depreciation expense and property taxes.

“Third quarter earnings were strong,” said Ben Fowke, chairman, president and CEO. “Results lined up with our expectations, and we expect to deliver 2017 earn-ings within our narrowed guidance range.

“In addition, we are well positioned for the future and are issuing 2018 earnings guidance of $2.37 to $2.47 per share, which is consistent with our long-term earnings

growth objective.”“We have made progress in our ‘steel-for-fuel’ invest-

ment strategy with our proposal for a new 300-mega-watt wind farm in South Dakota,” he added. “We also announced our proposed Colorado Energy Plan, which would increase our renewable portfolio to 55 percent of our energy mix in Colorado by 2026, while transitioning from coal generation.

“Our steel-for-fuel strat-egy and Colorado Energy Plan deliver tremendous value to our customers and build on Xcel Energy’s commitment to transition our energy �eet to cleaner, carbon-free resources, while keeping customer bills low,” he said.



Visit the 24/7 Safety XpressNET page for more resources to share with your family:Safety > Workplace Safety > Campaigns and Initiatives > 24/7 Safety: Bringing Safety Home

© 2017 Xcel Energy Inc.

24/7 SafetyStaying out of the line of �reYou may not consider yourself as being in the line of �re as you work around your home, but there are many things we do in our spare time that put us in the path of hazardous energy. The rotating blades of a lawn mower, electrical voltage coursing through a circuit breaker or splashing hot water or liquid chemicals are all hazards that we need to recognize and prepare for.

Watch a presentation from our Safety team

about Line of Fire hazards at home:

tinyurl.com/Xcel247Safety

414 Nicollet Mall, 401-7Minneapolis, MN 55401xcelenergy.com

XTRAPublished by Xcel EnergyKevin Graham, Editor1800 Larimer Street, 16th FloorDenver, CO 80202Phone: 303.294-2417Fax: 303.294.2968email: [email protected]

Contributors: Tim Dicks, Josiah Mayo,

Josie Crepau, Derek Wolden and Vanessa Yohe

Design: Steve Berry

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XTRA - Xcel Energy...The Denver Knowledge Fair featured 37 booths, a live fal-con, electric vehicles, the Xcel Energy Tiny House, and giveaways of ˚yers, brochures, pens, notepads