Xcel Energy

Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 37 historical complaints about Xcel Energy, published between 2002 and 2011. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources below.

• Green Greed?Published Aug 11, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• A billing nightmare at its finestPublished Jul 24, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• A billing nightmare at its finestPublished Jul 16, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Noisy Transformer pad mountPublished Jun 28, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Stupid websitePublished Jun 15, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Is trying to make me pay for their mistakePublished May 9, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Illing chargesPublished Apr 22, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Double billingPublished Mar 25, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• "Cold Weather Rule"Published Feb 9, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Never Sent a Bill, wanted bank information to pay onlinePublished Dec 18, 2010 · Historical consumer allegation
• Did not post payment to my accountPublished Oct 14, 2010 · Historical consumer allegation
• Restoration of servicesPublished Dec 21, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• My sister accountPublished Dec 11, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• OverchargingPublished Oct 22, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• Estimated BillsPublished Aug 27, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• Unauthorized chargesPublished Mar 25, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• Unauthorized chargesPublished Mar 10, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• Unethical Billing - Incompetent Reps - LiarsPublished Mar 5, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• Xcel Energy Charged me incorrectly!Published Feb 18, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• Unexpained ChargesPublished Dec 30, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation

Complaint Themes

Each tag reflects a complaint's single primary theme (not every angle it raised), and complaints outside any problem theme — a positive report, or one later retracted by its author — aren't tagged. Counts may total less than the full complaint count above.

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

Contacts, Payment & Login

• Official website: https://www.xcelenergy.com/
• Residential customer service — Colorado (Public Service Company of Colorado): 800-895-4999 14 complaints mention this number
• Pay bill (Kubra EZPay): https://co.my.xcelenergy.com/s/billing-payment
• My Account sign-in: https://my.xcelenergy.com/MyAccount
• Corporate headquarters: 612-330-5500

Locations

Billing dispute, outage, or shutoff notice from Xcel Energy? What to do

Xcel Energy Inc. is the parent of four regulated utilities: Northern States Power Company-Minnesota (serving Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota), Northern States Power Company-Wisconsin (Wisconsin and Michigan), Public Service Company of Colorado (Colorado), and Southwestern Public Service Company (Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico). The complaints archived on this site mostly concern billing, metering, or disconnection, so start with the right official channel for your account.

• Report an outage: use Xcel's online outage map, or text OUT to 98936 to report and STAT to 98936 to check status (verified for the Colorado service area).
• Pay your bill: Xcel's Colorado billing page links to Kubra EZPay for credit- and debit-card payments.
• Dispute a charge or a shutoff: Xcel's site does not publish a distinct self-service "dispute a bill" page; its own billing FAQs route customers to call customer service directly. In Colorado, call 800-895-4999 (Mon–Fri 7am–7pm, Sat 9am–5pm); other states have their own numbers on your bill or at xcelenergy.com.
• Start, stop, or transfer service (e.g. moving) through Xcel's own "Start, Stop, Transfer Service" self-service page rather than a third party that charges a fee to do this for you.
• Minnesota shutoff protections: the Minnesota PUC says its Cold Weather Rule "protects residential utility customers from having electric or natural gas service shut off between October 1 and April 30" if you "make and keep a payment plan," and that "the utility must offer a payment plan that is reasonable" for your household; the state's hot-weather law bars electric shutoffs on days the National Weather Service declares an excessive heat watch, heat advisory or excessive heat warning. The PUC's Consumer Affairs Office ([email protected], 651-296-0406 or 1-800-657-3782) can help if you and the utility can't agree on a plan. Other states have their own disconnection rules; ask your state commission.
• Ask about payment help: Xcel's site describes "Electric and Gas Affordability Programs" (bill discounts for qualifying low-income households), "Payment Arrangements" to spread a balance over installments, and an "Income-Qualified Weatherization" program run with Energy Outreach Colorado.
• If Xcel won't resolve it, your state's utility regulator will hear a complaint:
  • Colorado: Colorado PUC, puc.colorado.gov (the PUC's own homepage currently invites Xcel-specific complaints: "Xcel outage or billing concerns? Tell us about power outage problems or billing issues with Xcel Energy.")
  • Minnesota: Minnesota PUC Consumer Affairs Office, mn.gov/puc/consumers/complaint/, 651-296-0406 or 800-657-3782
  • Wisconsin: Wisconsin PSC, psc.wi.gov/Pages/ForConsumers/LogAComplaint.aspx, 1-800-225-7729 (try the utility first)
  • Texas (Southwestern Public Service customers): Texas PUC, puc.texas.gov/consumer-help/complaints/complaint/, 1-888-782-8477 (contact the utility first)
  • New Mexico (Southwestern Public Service customers): New Mexico PRC, prc.nm.gov/consumer-relations/file-a-complaint/ (informal complaint first, at complaints.nm-prc.org)
  • Property damage you believe Xcel caused: Xcel's online Claims Services form asks for your account number, the damage location and date, a description of how the damage occurred, the total amount claimed, and item-by-item original cost, replacement cost and age.
  • Watch for impersonation scams: Xcel's own scam guidance says it "NEVER REQUIRE[S] the use of a prepaid debit card" and "sends disconnection notices by U.S. mail before turning off the power." If a caller or visitor threatens an immediate shutoff, hang up and call the number on your bill.
• Wildfire-risk planned outages (PSPS): Xcel's own Public Safety Power Shutoff page says it may "turn off power in certain areas to prevent wildfires during extreme or critical wildfire risk conditions," considering "weather, wind speeds, relative humidity, fuel moisture and temperature"; it aims to notify customers "up to 48 hours" and again "up to 4 hours" before a shutoff, and warns restoration can take "several hours to several days" because crews must patrol the whole line first. Xcel says critical customers and infrastructure are among the factors considered during a PSPS event.

Company background

Xcel Energy Inc. is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-incorporated public holding company (SEC CIK 0000072903, NASDAQ: XEL) headquartered at 414 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55401. Its FY2025 Form 10-K says it is headquartered in Minneapolis and incorporated in Minnesota in 1909; the present Xcel Energy Inc. was formed through the August 18, 2000 merger of New Century Energies (based in Denver) and Northern States Power Co. (based in Minneapolis), which took the combined company's current name. SEC records show the registrant's own former name was "Northern States Power Co /MN/" through February 2000.

The company operates through four regulated utility subsidiaries, each with its own state regulator and rate base: Northern States Power Company-Minnesota (electric and gas, serving Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota), Northern States Power Company-Wisconsin (electric and gas, Wisconsin and Michigan), Public Service Company of Colorado (electric and gas, Colorado), and Southwestern Public Service Company (electric only, Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico). Xcel Energy's investor relations site describes the parent as "a major U.S. electricity and natural gas company, with operations in 8 Western and Midwestern states," providing service "through its regulated operating companies." As of its FY2025 10-K cover page, Xcel Energy had roughly 623.9 million common shares outstanding and a public float of about $40.3 billion, and is an SEC "Large Accelerated Filer."

The Better Business Bureau's Minneapolis listing for "Xcel Energy, Inc." also shows an alternate name/site, "HomeSmart" (homesmartminnesota.com) — sourced only to BBB's own page here, since that separate site's own TLS certificate had expired when checked and its content could not be independently confirmed.

Marshall Fire: investigation, litigation, and $640 million settlement

On December 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire burned through Boulder County, Colorado. On June 8, 2023, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office and District Attorney released a joint investigative report (case #21-6301) concluding there were two separate ignition points. The first was windblown embers from a controlled burn debris pile at a residential property that had been covered on December 24, 2021 but was re-ignited by high winds. For the second, near the Marshall Mesa Trailhead, the report states: "investigators and experts concluded that the most probable cause of this ignition was hot particles discharged from Xcel Energy powerlines," describing an east-phase conductor that came loose from its insulator and arced against the center phase. The report is explicit that this is a "most probable cause" finding under an investigative standard, not a criminal or civil verdict: it states there was "no evidence of criminally negligent or reckless system design or maintenance" and that "no criminal charges will be filed," and it expressly says the report "is not intended to address ... potential civil liability." It also notes an underground coal-seam fire as an alternate cause of the second ignition "cannot be conclusively ruled out."

The same day the report was released, Xcel Energy publicly disputed it, stating the company "strongly disagreed with any suggestion that Xcel Energy powerlines" caused or contributed to the fire. Xcel Energy's Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) subsidiary was subsequently named in numerous individual and subrogation-insurer lawsuits in Boulder County District Court; per Xcel's own FY2025 Form 10-K, "PSCo received notice or otherwise became aware of 307 complaints on behalf of at least 4,087 plaintiffs, most of which also named Xcel Energy Inc. and Xcel Energy Services Inc. as additional defendants," generally alleging "that PSCo's equipment ignited the Marshall Fire." Telecom companies Qwest Corporation and Teleport Communications America, LLC were added as co-defendants by most plaintiffs in April 2025. In June 2025, the Boulder County District Court dismissed parent Xcel Energy Inc. from the complaints naming it, for lack of jurisdiction, leaving PSCo as the defendant utility. A trial on liability was scheduled for September 2025.

On September 24, 2025 — the day before that trial was set to begin — Xcel Energy announced it had "reached settlement agreements in principle that resolve all claims asserted by the subrogation insurers, the public entity plaintiffs and individual plaintiffs, and require PSCo to make settlement payments of $640 million," adding that "PSCo did not admit any fault, wrongdoing or negligence in connection with these settlement agreements" and that about $350 million of the total would be "funded by its remaining insurance coverage and none from its customers." Xcel's 10-K states PSCo recognized $287 million and $12 million in earnings charges in the quarters ended September 30 and December 31, 2025 respectively (net of expected insurance reimbursement), and that "as of February 2026, final settlement documentation has been executed with the subrogation insurers, the public entity plaintiffs and nearly all the individual plaintiffs"; its quarterly report for the period ended June 30, 2026 adds that "as of July 2026, settlements have been executed with all plaintiffs and subrogation insurers."

Smokehouse Creek Fire: Texas Panhandle wildfire, State lawsuit, and settlements

On February 26, 2024, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, a wildfire in the Texas Panhandle, began burning in an area served by Xcel's Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS) subsidiary. Days later, on March 7, 2024, Xcel Energy issued its own statement: "Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire. Xcel Energy disputes claims that it acted negligently in maintaining and operating its infrastructure." The same statement said Xcel did "not believe that its facilities caused the ignition" of a separate, nearby "Windy Deuce" fire. Xcel's own SEC filings report a government finding on cause: "The Texas A&M Forest Service issued incident reports that determined that the Smokehouse Creek Fire and the 687 Reamer Fire were caused by power lines owned by SPS after wooden poles near each fire origin failed." A Texas House of Representatives Investigative Committee report on the fires (May 1, 2024) similarly found that "a decayed power pole broke at ground level and caused the three-wire power line atop it to fall and make contact with fine grassy fuels, igniting what would become the Smokehouse Creek Fire," and separately attributed three other nearby fires to failed poles or lines.

A lawsuit was filed by the State of Texas, through Attorney General Ken Paxton, over the Smokehouse Creek and 687 Reamer fires, on December 16, 2025, against Southwestern Public Service Company d/b/a Xcel Energy in Hemphill County District Court, on behalf of the People of Texas, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the General Land Office, alleging negligence, negligence per se, violations of the Texas Utilities Code and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and public nuisance, and seeking damages, civil penalties, restitution, and a permanent injunction. The Attorney General's office stated: "Xcel's blatant negligence killed three Texans and caused unfathomable destruction in the Texas Panhandle" — an allegation from the state's filed petition, not a court finding. On February 23, 2026, the Attorney General announced an agreed temporary injunction (not a damages settlement) requiring SPS to "immediately replace damaged and dilapidated utility poles and conduct rigorous and thorough large-scale inspections"; the state's underlying lawsuit for damages and penalties remains open and unresolved.

Separately, SPS has been processing private claims and lawsuits from individual landowners, ranchers, and insurers. Per Xcel's own SEC filings, by the end of 2024 SPS had "settled claims related to both of the fatalities" from the fire (dollar amounts not disclosed); as of its most recent quarterly filing (period ended June 30, 2026), SPS reported "approximately 73 complaints" (after Texas's two-year property-damage statute of limitations had passed), 28 resolved, "304 claims through its claims process" with 237 finally settled, and settlements "reached with the subrogated insurer plaintiffs as well as the three largest claims asserted from the fire, as measured by fire-impacted acreage." The same filing states settlements reached to date total $404 million in expected loss payments, of which $398 million had actually been paid through June 30, 2026, plus $56 million in remaining estimated probable losses (before insurance) and about $43 million in legal costs, for total estimated losses and costs of $503 million as of that filing, excluding any potential penalties, fines, or punitive damages. SPS reported 237 claims finally settled and 28 complaints resolved as of June 30, 2026; its accounting estimates are not legal admissions of liability. One federal lawsuit, a putative class action on behalf of rangeland/pasture owners (Parker v. Xcel Energy Services Inc., N.D. Tex., No. 2:24-cv-00078), shows a docket termination date of January 6, 2025, though the reason for its termination could not be independently confirmed.

Complaint record: USAComplaints, BBB, Trustpilot, and ComplaintsBoard, reported separately

Several sources track complaints about Xcel Energy, and this page reports each one separately rather than blending them into a single figure:

• USAComplaints: 37 archived consumer complaints — an archive of older posts, not a measure of current complaint volume — naming Xcel Energy (or its Southwestern Public Service / Public Service Company of Colorado operating companies, or the common misspelling "Excel Energy") as the subject, filed between January 2002 and August 2011 — almost all billing disputes, disconnections, meter/estimated-bill disputes, and a few equipment complaints (e.g. a noisy pad-mounted transformer). Three additional posts from 2011–2012 describe a fake "mailing job" check-fraud scam that invoked Xcel Energy's/Southwestern Public Service's name as a cover story; those are reported separately as related complaints, not counted as complaints about Xcel Energy's own conduct, since the scam used the company's name without its involvement.
• BBB: Xcel Energy, Inc.'s Minneapolis, MN listing (the company's HQ profile; BBB also lists several separate Xcel-related entries for other locations, each with its own rating and counts, which are not combined here) shows a BBB Rating of D-, with BBB's stated "reason for rating" being "Failure to respond to 38 complaint(s) filed against business." Xcel Energy is not BBB Accredited. BBB shows 254 complaints in the last 3 years (25 closed in the last 12 months) and a customer-review average of 1.05 out of 5 from 60 reviews.
• Trustpilot: an unclaimed profile showing a TrustScore of 1.8 out of 5 from 29 reviews (17 in the last 12 months); Trustpilot notes the profile has "no history of asking for reviews." Visible reviews center on outages/reliability, billing increases, and cost transparency on service work.
• ComplaintsBoard: a self-hosted count of 175 Xcel Energy complaints, of which the site says 15 (roughly 8–9%, shown both ways on its own page) were "marked as resolved." Its listed complaint date range runs from December 2007 to September 2026; its earliest listed complaint corresponds to a post that was also separately filed on USAComplaints around the same date.

Because each source covers a different population, time window, and methodology, none of these figures is added to or averaged with any other.

Is Xcel Energy Legitimate?

Xcel Energy Inc. is a real, publicly traded (NASDAQ: XEL) investor-owned utility holding company headquartered at 414 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and its four operating subsidiaries are regulated electric and/or natural-gas utilities serving Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Two of Xcel's four operating companies are currently working through major wildfire litigation: Public Service Company of Colorado agreed in September 2025 to pay $640 million to resolve claims arising from the December 2021 Marshall Fire, without admitting fault, after Boulder County investigators concluded its powerlines were the "most probable cause" of one of the fire's two ignition points (an investigative finding, not a court verdict, since the case settled before trial); and Southwestern Public Service acknowledged its equipment "appear[s] to have been involved" in igniting the February 2024 Smokehouse Creek Fire while disputing that it acted negligently, faces an ongoing lawsuit from the State of Texas, and has reached $404 million in expected settlements toward private claims so far ($398 million actually paid through June 30, 2026). This page assigns Xcel Energy no rating, score, or "scam" label of its own; the regulatory, litigation, and complaint-platform record above is reported so readers can weigh it for themselves.

Court & Public Records

Related Complaints

Names this company in a role other than the primary subject — not necessarily current or complete.

• Named as a brand of this company: Not paid for work performed / scammed
• Named as a brand of this company: Consumer Report
• Named as a brand of this company: Consumer Report

Company Relationships

• Affiliated with: Northern States Power Company-Minnesota
• Affiliated with: Northern States Power Company-Wisconsin
• Affiliated with: Public Service Company of Colorado
• Affiliated with: Southwestern Public Service Company
• Formerly known as: Northern States Power Co. /MN/ (former registrant name)

Frequently Asked Questions