AMARILLO, Texas (July 28, 2021) – Xcel Energy spent close to $524 million with Texas and New Mexico vendors in 2020 to improve and maintain its extensive electrical system and provided more than $1.1 million in funding to nonprofits working to meet the needs of communities impacted by the pandemic.
“We support our communities and they support us in good times and in bad, which has been the case throughout our 117-year history of service in Texas and New Mexico,” said David Hudson, president, Xcel Energy – New Mexico, Texas.
Xcel Energy owns and operates eight conventional power plants and two large wind farms across the region along with hundreds of substations and more than 24,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines. More than $3 billion has been invested in the region’s high-voltage transmission grid alone over the past decade, and system-wide improvement projects continued unabated in 2020 even as other companies scaled back investment. Of the $524 million in local spending in 2020, $475 million in goods and services were purchased in Texas and close to $49 million was spent in New Mexico.
Nonprofits also benefited as Xcel Energy increased charitable giving in the face of a pandemic that took a heavy toll on many families across the region. Xcel Energy donated $150,000 in COVID-19 grants to area nonprofits to help replenish reserves that were tapped out because of the additional services provided to area residents impacted by loss of income and medical issues. These grants were on top of the $430,000 granted by the Xcel Energy Foundation to Texas-New Mexico nonprofits to aid in their efforts to build sustainable and well-educated communities.
Xcel Energy also continued its longstanding support of the United Way in 2020, matching employee donations dollar-for-dollar and generating a total of $590,000 in gifts to United Way and other nonprofit organizations in Texas and New Mexico.
Additional community benefits in 2020 included:
• Approximately $64 million in taxes paid to taxing entities in Texas in 2020, and another $43 million in New Mexico.
• More than $19 million in franchise fees paid to cities served by Xcel Energy in both Texas and New Mexico.
• The hiring of military veterans to fill 10% or more of all open positions at the company.
• Granting of $30,000 to groups working to promote social justice and racial equity across the Texas-New Mexico service area.
• Volunteerism totaling 6,000 hours of service in the communities served by the company.
Hudson also pointed out that Xcel Energy significantly boosted its renewable energy portfolio in 2020 with the completion of the 522-megawatt Sagamore Wind Project in Roosevelt County, New Mexico. This facility came online at the end of December and is producing enough clean energy to power 194,000 homes. Combined, the company’s renewable resources in Texas and New Mexico generate enough electricity to power a million homes.
“Our ongoing investments in grid enhancement and clean energy help us hold down costs over time and prepare us for extreme weather events such as Winter Storm Uri in February 2021,” Hudson said. “Just as our customers are becoming more efficient in how they use electricity, we are more efficient in how we generate it and move it where it’s most needed.”
Xcel Energy operates in 94 towns and cities in a 52,000-square-mile service area that includes the Panhandle and South Plains regions of Texas and a large portion of eastern New Mexico. The company’s high-voltage transmission network stretches from southwestern Kansas through the Texas Panhandle and South Plains into southeastern New Mexico.
The company employs 1,434 full-time workers in Texas and 222 in New Mexico.
About Xcel Energy Foundation The Xcel Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that awards charitable grants to nonprofit organizations and sponsors the volunteer programs of Xcel Energy and its subsidiaries. The majority of Xcel Energy Foundation funding comes from Xcel Energy shareholder dollars. This year, the Foundation granted $3.6 million to nearly 400 nonprofit organizations for programs that aligned with its four focus areas of education, economic sustainability, environmental stewardship and access to arts and culture. Additionally, the Foundation distributed $2 million to match the donations and volunteer hours that employees contributed to qualified nonprofit organizations in 2020. For more information, visit https://my.xcelenergy.com/s/community/focus-area-grants. About Xcel Energy Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is an industry leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices. For more information, visit xcelenergy.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
