News

More than 100 employees and retirees from Xcel Energy gathered at the Wisconsin State Capitol for the company’s annual Legislative Day, meeting with state leaders to discuss key energy priorities.

Participants emphasized the importance of strong collaboration between utilities and policymakers as energy demand continues to grow. Discussions focused on strengthening the grid, expanding infrastructure, and advancing new technologies to ensure reliable service.

Xcel Energy serves approximately 260,000 electric and 116,000 natural gas customers in Wisconsin, and company officials said continued engagement like this is key to meeting the state’s future energy needs.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin has unanimously approved the purchase of the Good Oak Solar Generation Facility and the Gristmill Solar Generation Facility; both will be built in Columbia County.

The two projects will add 165 megawatts (MW) of solar energy to the power grid — enough to power about 50,000 homes.

“Today’s commission approval will add more renewable energy to the power grid and support the state’s increased electricity needs in the coming years,” said Mike Hooper, President — We Energies. “The Good Oak and Gristmill solar projects are part of our ‘all the above’ energy strategy that supports continued reliability and helps keep energy costs down for our customers.”

We Energies will be the majority owner of the projects, with Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) and Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) as co-owners.

Ownership breakdown:

• We Energies – 78.7 MW Good Oak and 53.6 MW Gristmill
• WPS – 9.8 MW Good Oak and 6.7 MW Gristmill
• MGE – 9.8 MW Good Oak and 6.7 MW Gristmill

The facilities are expected to begin serving customers in 2028, following construction and testing. The project is being developed by OneEnergy Renewables.

Alliant Energy and its charitable foundation, along with the company’s employees and retirees, collectively contributed nearly $6.6 million and over 66,000 volunteer hours to various causes and nonprofits in 2025.  

“We’re proud of the difference we're making, supporting more than 1,280 organizations and distributing over 700 grants in 2025 alone,” said Aimee Davis, Alliant Energy Foundation board chair. “We helped provide fresh dairy products to rural food pantries, which are often difficult for them to source and advanced our goal of planting 1 million trees by 2030, this work reflects our purpose of serving customers and building stronger communities.”

Xcel Energy will power a new Google data center in Pine Island, Minnesota. The data center and associated Electric Service Agreement will provide a significant contribution to the state’s economy, including a large buildout of new clean energy projects that will contribute to Minnesota’s clean energy goals while ensuring that Xcel Energy’s current customers benefit as a result of this growth.

Data centers serve as the core infrastructure that powers the internet, from personal electronics to business operations to government services. Xcel Energy recently signed an agreement to supply power for the Google data center that will support core services — including Workspace, Search, YouTube and Maps — that people, communities and businesses use every day.

Xcel Energy is committed to ensuring that new large loads do not increase costs for existing customers and that service remains reliable. Under the agreement, Google will pay all costs for its new service in line with its typical practices and Minnesota’s regulatory and legislative requirements for large loads. Over the past five years, Xcel Energy’s average Minnesota residential customer’s electric bills were 27% below the national average. Since 2013, residential electric bills have increased by 1.55% a year, well below the rate of inflation.

Alliant Energy has received approval to move forward with upgrades to the Burlington Iowa Generating Station. The approval allows Alliant Energy to add five new reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE) units, totaling 94-megawatts, to replace the combustion turbines that have operated at the Burlington site for more than 30 years. 

The Iowa Utilities Commission unanimously approved Alliant Energy’s Certificate of Public Convenience, Use and Necessity request. 

“With the new RICE units at the Burlington Generating Station, we are positioning the communities we serve for a resilient and reliable energy future,” said Mayuri Farlinger, President of Alliant Energy’s Iowa energy company and Vice President of energy delivery. “Our investment strategy remains focused on cost‑conscious decisions that enhance reliability today and help prevent unnecessary costs for customers in the years ahead.” 

Xcel Energy has named Rob Cain its Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer. Cain will lead the company’s Technology and Security Services organization, taking over the role held by Tim Peterson, who accepted a position outside of the company.

The Technology and Security Services organization is vital to Xcel Energy’s resilience, innovation and success. Cain will oversee its key role in modernizing the company’s infrastructure, mitigating cyber and physical security risks, and enabling AI and other advanced digital solutions to reshape the company’s operations and improve the employee and customer experience.

“Rob’s strategic acumen and global perspective will be invaluable as we advance our technology and security vision and accelerate modernization across the enterprise,” said Bob Frenzel, Chairman, President and CEO of Xcel Energy. “He will help us make energy work better by empowering our people, delivering for our customers and strengthening our enterprise capabilities.”

The company has reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025.

MGE Energy's earnings for the fourth quarter of 2025 were $23.3 million, or 64 cents per share, compared to $22.0 million, or 61 cents per share, for the same period in the prior year.

Electric segment earnings increased $11.3 million for 2025 compared to 2024. This growth was largely driven by the successful deployment of key renewable energy projects. The Darien Solar Project in Rock and Walworth counties became operational in March 2025, followed by the Paris Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in June 2025. MGE owns 25 MW of solar capacity from the Darien Solar Project and 11 MW of battery capacity from the Paris BESS.

Gas segment earnings increased $2.5 million for 2025 compared to 2024. During 2025, gas retail therm deliveries increased approximately 14% compared to the prior year, primarily due to warmer-than-normal weather in 2024.

WEC Energy Group has reported net income based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) of $1.6 billion, or $4.81 per share, for 2025. This compares to earnings of $1.5 billion, or $4.83 per share, for 2024. Full-year 2025 earnings include a charge of 46 cents per share, reflecting an agreement on the terms of a proposed settlement the company reached with the Illinois Attorney General that would resolve all open proceedings in Illinois related to the Qualifying Infrastructure Plant (QIP) rider and the Uncollectible Expense Adjustment (UEA) rider. Full-year 2024 earnings included a charge of 6 cents per share related to certain capital expenditures under the QIP rider that were disallowed by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). Excluding these charges, WEC Energy Group's adjusted earnings for 2025 rose to $5.27 per share – an increase of 8.0 percent over 2024 adjusted earnings of $4.88 per share. For the fourth quarter of 2025, WEC Energy Group recorded net income based on GAAP of $316.6 million, or 97 cents per share. This compares to earnings of $453.5 million, or $1.43 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2024. Excluding the 2025 charge, WEC Energy Group's adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter of 2025 totaled $1.42 per share. Consolidated revenues for the full year were $9.8 billion, up $1.2 billion from revenues in 2024. “We delivered another year of solid results — from operational efficiency to customer care to financial performance,” according to Scott Lauber, President and CEO. “We continue to see significant growth opportunities ahead. And we remain focused on enhancing value for our customers and stockholders.”

Xcel Energy has reported 2025 GAAP diluted earnings of $2.02 billion, or $3.42 per share, compared with $1.94 billion, or $3.44 per share in the same period in 2024 and ongoing earnings of $2.24 billion, or $3.80 per share, compared with $1.97 billion, or $3.50 per share in the same period in 2024.

The change in ongoing earnings reflects increased recovery of infrastructure investments and electric sales growth, partially offset by higher interest, depreciation, and operating and maintenance expenses.

“In 2025, Xcel Energy delivered on our earnings guidance for the 21^st year in a row - one of the best track records in the industry. We placed in service critical infrastructure to serve our customers, including Phase 2 of our Sherco Solar facility, the conversion of our Harrington coal plant to natural gas, and the first two segments of our Colorado Power Pathway. All the while, our customers continue to have some of the lowest energy bills in the country,” according to Bob Frenzel, Chairman, President and CEO of Xcel Energy.

“As we look forward into 2026, we recently announced another large data center customer. We also announced two strategic alliances with industry-leading development and supply chain partners to help ensure we have the right resources to deliver critical system investments affordably, accelerate data center development for the benefit of all our customers, and drive innovation. We are excited for the future and to make energy work better for our customers and communities.”

Alliant Energy Corporation has announced U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) consolidated unaudited earnings per share (EPS) of $3.14 for 2025, compared to $2.69 for 2024. Ongoing EPS for 2025 was $3.22, compared to $3.04 for 2024.

Alliant Energy affirmed its consolidated ongoing EPS guidance for 2026 of $3.36 - $3.46, continuing its over a decade strong track record of compound annual earnings growth of more than six percent.

“In 2025, we delivered another solid year of financial and operational results. We’re executing well while investing to meet growing customer demand,” said Lisa Barton, Alliant Energy President and CEO. “We have renegotiated an electric service agreement with QTS based on a new project location and our investment plan reinforces our flexibility and balanced generation portfolio as we continue to execute on our customer and community-focused strategy.”

In 2025, the primary drivers of Alliant Energy’s results were higher EPS due to increased revenue requirements from authorized rate base increases, reflecting ongoing capital investments in generation and energy storage, non-GAAP adjustments in 2024, and estimated temperature impacts on retail electric and gas sales. These items were partially offset by higher other operation and maintenance expenses, driven by increased generation costs from planned maintenance activities and the addition of new energy resources, as well as higher development costs to support long-term growth. Higher depreciation and financing expenses related to capital investments and non-GAAP adjustments in 2025 also partially offset the higher earnings.