welcome, everyone. Good morning and welcome to the 2018 Xcel Energy Annual Shareholders Meeting. We're delighted to be in St.
Cloud and really have thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of days here. We really appreciate the warmth and hospitality that you've shown us. Thank you so much. St. Cloud is the hub of Central Minnesota and we've served this region for more than 100 years.
Our nearby Sherco and Monticello plants are the workhorses of our system that powers this economy. And given these big investments and our long standing partnership in this area, it really was an easy decision to bring our Annual Shareholders Meeting right here to St. Cloud, and indeed, you have welcomed us. I spent time at City Hall yesterday with Mayor Dave Klise and City Administrator Matt Stadeling and Matt's joined us today to welcome us to the city. Matt?
Thank you, Ben, and welcome everybody. We're delighted that you chose St. Cloud for the site of your annual meeting. And while you're here in St. Cloud, please take time to enjoy our Riverwalk right on the back of the facility here.
It wasn't cheap, but it is great. And also while you're here, please take the opportunity to check out some of our great restaurants. We've got a number of restaurants that craft beers, and I hope you have a good time while you're here. Mir Dave Kleistens' regrets, he is traveling today. He's actually traveling to our sister city of Spalt, Germany with a delegation of people from St.
Cloud. We're honored to have XO Energy here. XO Energy has been a great community partner for us historically. And currently, we're working on 2 great projects and I'd like to really complement Xcel Energy. Mark Osendorf is a great leader in our community and we enjoy a great relationship.
We talk frequently and he's really an effective partner for us. We're grateful for that relationship. But the Partners in Energy program has been one of our recent initiatives. We're working to take our sustainability ethic and Xcel's sustainability ethic out to our entire community. As an example of our commitment to sustainability, in 2014, about 5% of our energy was generated by renewables.
Today, it's 83%. So, we hope to continue to work with X Energy to roll that out to our entire community. The second area where we're currently partnering, which we're also grateful for is we have 2 catalyst sites for economic development and it is no small undertaking. Xcel Energy working with the city is going to be decommissioning an industrial substation at a prominent corner in just off of Division Street in St. Cloud and that's an exciting opportunity for economic development there.
And also on our east side of town, there's a blighted area where we're going to be under guarding some facilities, so great partnership. We'll move on to the proclamation. Whereas the true heart of Xcel Energy Regional Electric System is built in Central Minnesota and whereas Xcel Energy has demonstrated a commitment to Central Minnesota in the St. Cloud area investing in the community and its energy infrastructure providing customers with safe and reliable electric service and whereas Xcel Energy and the City of St. Cloud have long enjoyed a collaborative relationship and whereas Xcel Energy employs more than 1,000 people in the St.
Cloud area, providing good jobs for residents both within the city and at nearby power plants in Becker and Monticello and whereas Xcel Energy is an active partner in the Saint Cloud community providing support in numerous areas including social services, education and economic development. And whereas, St. Cloud is honored to welcome the Xcel Energy Board of Directors as we play host to the 2018 Annual Shareholder Meeting. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Dave Kleiss, Mayor of the City of St. Cloud, Minnesota, do hereby proclaim May 16, 2018 as Xcel Energy Day.
Thank you so much.
We understand now that from my staff that this does not mean you can disobey traffic laws, all right. But we really do appreciate the proclamation and we really valued our time with city officials yesterday. Our entire team really enjoys taking the Annual Shareholders Meeting on the road to get out there to the important communities that we serve. Hosting these meetings gives us a great opportunity to engage with local leaders and policymakers, connect with our customers and visit our shareholders. It really brings home the tremendous privilege we have to serve this community.
And we know that our success is tied to the success of our communities and the success of our customers. Growing and vibrant communities support our business growth while reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy powers that growth. We support our communities by focusing on 3 strategic priorities: leading the clean energy transition, enhancing the customer experience, and keeping bills low. And no area is more involved in our transition to cleaner energy than right here in Central Minnesota. We are working together on a thoughtful and collaborative approach to provide our employees and our communities the runway to plan for change.
Consider our approach at nearby the nearby Sherco location. As part of our proposal for early retirement of 2 coal units, we work with policymakers and local leaders on legislation to ensure that a replacement natural gas plant will be built at the Sherco site, thus preserving tax base and jobs. I'm very pleased that the legislation was signed into law because not only does it support the community of Becker, but it also ensures that the replacement energy takes advantage of existing transmission and other infrastructure and that helps keep costs low for all of our customers. We are also partnering with the city of Becker to redevelop Xcel Energy owned land and have broken an agreement with Minneapolis based Northern Metals Recycling to build a new state of the art facility on that site next year, driving even more jobs to the area. And looking further ahead, we are working with legislators and ultimately the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on a better way to plan for long term nuclear investments to support the most efficient operation of our nearby nuclear plants.
These carbon free plants are critical to a clean energy future and keeping them operating well until the end of their license is a key priority for us. Such collaboration and partnerships are really the hallmark of our approach. So, I hope you see that at Xcel Energy, we dedicate our time, energy and talents to help our communities thrive. So once again, thank you for your hospitality. We're really glad to be here in St.
Cloud and plan to serve Central Minnesota for many, many years to come. So with that, let's get down to the business at hand. On stage with me are Judy Profel, our Corporate Secretary Bob Frenzel, our Chief Financial Officer and Scott Walensky, our General Counsel. Now under Xcel Energy's bylaws, the items considered at this meeting are limited to those included in the notice you received. We will not add any new items to the agenda.
Judy will conduct a formal portion of today's meeting. There are 3 proposals on our business agenda and they're listed in the proxy statement. The polls are now open for voting on these matters. Once the business meeting concludes, I will share with you my perspective about our 2017 performance and our plans for the future. And after that, you'll have an opportunity to ask questions.
Our meeting will adjourn no later than noon. Now before proceeding to the business meeting, I'd like to make a few other introductions starting with the Xcel Energy Board of Directors. And this is a talented, committed board and one that takes its responsibilities very seriously. Our Board ensures that strong governance starts with the highest ethical standards and a commitment to shareholder rights. So I'll ask each director to stand and remain standing until all the names have been introduced.
And please hold your applause until after I've named the last director. Let's start with Richard Davis, recently retired Executive Chairman of U. S. Bancorp Richard O'Brien, independent consultant and former President and CEO of Boart Longyear Limited David Owens, retired executive from Edison Electric Institute Chris Polisinski, President and CEO of Land O'Lakes Inc. Jim Prokopenko, Retired President and CEO of Mosaic Company Pat Sampson, CEO, President and Owner of the Sampson Group Joe Shepherd, Independent Consultant and Former Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer at Southern California Edison David Westerlund, Retired Executive Vice President of Administration and Corporate Secretary of Ball Corp Tim Wolff, President of Wolff Interest Inc.
And Daniel Johannes, the former United States Ambassador to the Organization For Economic Cooperation and Development. And finally, Kim Williams, retired partner at Wellington Management Company LLP, was unable to be with us today, but she does send her regrets. So, please acknowledge the board with your applause. I also want to recognize 2 people here to support you, Annette Henkel from the Minnesota Utility Investors and Carly McCloud from the Utility Shareholders of North Dakota. They each have a booth in the lobby that you can visit after the meeting for more information.
Annette and Carly, will you please stand? Thank you. We also have Chris Lee and Judy Dockendorf from Deloitte and Touche. Chris and Judy are the independent accountants engaged to audit Xcel Energy's financial statements. Chris and Judy, will you please stand?
Thank you. And finally, I'm hoping we have some Xcel Energy retirees here in attendance. If you are a retiree, would you please raise your hand? Do I see a single retiree? Well, if you were here, I would thank you for your service.
We'll now proceed with the formal business portion of the meeting, which will be conducted by our Corporate Secretary, Judy Profol. Judy?
Thank you, Ben. Good morning, everyone. Let me start with a few procedural matters. As noted in the proxy statement, the record date for voting at this meeting was the close of business on March 20, 2018. As of that date, there were 508000000 660,883 shares of common stock outstanding.
Each share has one vote. A list of our shareholders on the record date is available in the lobby for your review. More than 87% of shares of our common stock are present by proxy at this meeting, and so we do have a quorum. Now if you've already voted your proxy, your votes will be casted as you time and a ballot will be brought to you. Peggy Syme of Oclinity is our Inspector of Election.
Peggy, could you please stand? Thank you. Does anyone need a ballot? Because Peggy will bring it to
you. Okay.
There are 3 proposals that will be voted on today, details of which were provided in the proxy statement. Proposal number 1 is the election of 12 directors to 1 year terms. The names of the nominees whom Ben just introduced are listed in the proxy statement and are up on the screen. Proposal number 2 seeks approval on an advisory basis of our executive compensation. Proposal number 3 seeks approval of the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte and Touche LLP as Xcel Energy Incorporated independent registered public accounting firm for 2018.
Since there were no ballots to be gathered up here, I now declare the polls closed. Official results, which would have included ballots cast here, will be disclosed at in an 8 ks filing that will be posted later on Xcel Energy's website. But meanwhile, the Inspector of Election has provided us preliminary results showing that all director nominees were elected and all management proposals were approved. The formal business portion of our meeting is now officially adjourned. Now in a couple of minutes, Ben will discuss the company's 2017 performance and our plans for the future.
Following his remarks, members of the audience will have a chance to ask a question or share a comment. Please limit your remarks to 3 minutes so that others can have a turn. Thank you for following the rules at this business meeting. Let me also remind you that we may make some forward looking statements during the rest of the meeting. You should refer to our SEC filings for the risk factors related to our business.
We may also refer to non GAAP measures during the presentation. The nearest GAAP measure and reconciliation to the non GAAP measure can be found in our 2017 year end earnings release located on the Investor Relations page of our website. Now as Ben mentioned, we're very happy to be here in St. Cloud, especially me as an alum of the College of St. Benedict that's right up the road.
It gives us a great opportunity to celebrate our commitment to the communities we serve and share our plans for an exciting future. I think you'll get a feel for that in the short video that you're about to see and then Ben will be back.
I hope you enjoyed the video. We chose the theme Leading the Energy Future because it reflects the role we're playing in making a rapid and smart transition from fossil fuels to clean, cost effective renewable energy. We're proud to lead this industry change while enhancing affordability and reliability for our customers. We've got a number of important successes this year. Let me highlight a few key ones that really stand out for me.
Let's start with our financial performance where once again we delivered for you, our shareholders. We reported 2017 GAAP earnings of $2.25 per share and ongoing earnings of $2.30 per share that's compared to $2.21 per share in 2016. We took a one time earnings charge of $0.05 per share due to federal tax reform and we're working with regulators to determine the best approach to return the tax reform benefits to our customers. Let me provide a few other financial highlights. In 2017, it marked the 13th consecutive year we've met or exceeded our earnings guidance.
Since 2,005, we've achieved an annual earnings growth rate of 5.9%. Our 1 year total shareholder return was 22%, which easily outpaced our peer group average of 9%. And we increased our dividend by 5.9 percent, marking the 14th consecutive year of dividend growth. And we expect our dividend to grow in the 5% 7% range, reflecting the confidence we have in our business strategy and our financial flexibility. Certainly, our smart investments are drivers of our financial track record, but holding the line on cost is a key contributor to these results.
2017 was the 3rd consecutive year we drove down year over year expenses and the 5th consecutive year that average residential natural gas and electricity bills have fallen. Keeping costs low for customers is important. Yesterday, I met with leaders of American Axle, one of our largest customers in the St. Cloud area, and they've done a great job taking advantage of our energy efficiency programs to help lower their energy bill. So, while we keep a close eye on these annual results, we also take a long term disciplined approach to our business model.
Our capital forecast is over $18,500,000,000 over the next 5 years with potential upside if the Colorado Energy Plan is approved. It's just one of several reasons why I'm bullish on our future. And so we expect to deliver once again in 2018 and beyond. We are reaffirming our 2018 ongoing earnings guidance range of $2.37 to $2.47 per share. And we're off to a strong start with Q1 2018 ongoing earnings per share at $0.57 and that exceeds last year results and analyst consensus.
I truly believe that our financials will turn out well if we take good care of our customers, which leads me to my second point of pride. We know our customers want cleaner energy, but even more they want reliable energy. And when the power goes out, they have one simple question, when are the lights going to go back on? Providing reliable energy is fundamental to our business and our performance has been strong in this area. We not only set a record for power plant reliability across our 8 state territory in 2017, but we also significantly improved how we communicate with customers during power outages.
We started by creating a new online storm center and built a mobile app to help customers report an outage or check the outage map. Next, we enrolled 3,000,000 customers to receive notifications and updates by text, email or voice response. Customer feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we saw meaningful improvement in customer satisfaction, leapfrogging 18 industry peers on outage communication according to the JD Power Associates survey. But it's not just about communications. I've always said our storm response teams are the best in the business and they proved it again.
Most recently, by quickly and safely repairing the grid following several late season storms, including the recent blizzard that dumped 15 inches of snow right here in Minnesota in mid April. You all remember that one, right? Our employees also stepped up when hurricanes struck 100 of miles away. More than 150 employees traveled to Fort Myers, Florida where they spent several long and hot days restoring power to those in need. Another 200 traveled to Puerto Rico, working in conjunction with FEMA and 17 other utilities to help restore power to our fellow citizens who were without electricity for 6 months.
I want to share a short video that highlights our efforts in Puerto Rico. That's really something, isn't it? I traveled to Puerto Rico in late March to personally thank our employees and observe their recovery efforts. And as you could see from the video, there was so much excitement when the power came back on. That trip was really one of the most rewarding experiences I've had during my tenure here at Xcel Energy.
Our crews made us all very proud and remind us of the tremendous privilege and responsibility we have to provide the energy our customers rely on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 3 65 days a year. So, 2017 was a great year for financial and operational performance, but nothing better defines our performance in 2017 than our leadership in executing the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, a strategy we call Steel for Fuel. The name is appropriate because our investments in wind farms, the steel, offset the use of coal and natural gas plants with the fuel with carbon free energy. And the steel is less expensive than the fuel, which makes it work for everybody. We've been a leader in renewables for some time now, but in 2017, we took it to a whole new level.
We proposed the largest multi state wind investment in the country, nearly 3,700 megawatts of wind energy from a dozen wind farms. These projects take advantage of our wind rich service territory and federal tax credits to not only provide a great investment opportunity for you, our shareholders, but also for our customers through lower bills. Right now, these projects are in various stages of development. Rush Creek, our largest wind farm to date, is projected to come online on time and under budget in October. Once that project is operational, the wind capacity on the Colorado system will be enough to power every single home in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, and that's a lot of wind.
Other projects in the upper Midwest and the Southwest have received important regulatory approvals and are advancing towards construction. Now not surprisingly, the vast majority of our stakeholders support the steel for fuel value proposition. And really why wouldn't they? Providing clean, renewable energy while simultaneously lowering bills for everyone is a win win. And we expect that trend to continue even as the federal tax incentive begins to phase down in 2021.
In fact, we recently approved received approval for a 300 Megawatt Dakota Range Wind Farm and we're the 1st company in the nation to advance a wind project that works economically even with a reduced tax incentive. Overall, our proposal will more than quadruple our company owned wind portfolio. It will create 2,700 construction jobs, 150 full time positions and will generate $800,000,000 in landholder lease and property tax payments. Renewables are a powerful source of economic development and we're a leader in deploying them. We're proud of our accomplishments, but we're never satisfied.
At Xcel Energy, we constantly challenge said, I've shared with you how we're leading the clean energy transition. As of the end of 2017, we've reduced carbon emissions 35% company wide since 2,005 and we believe we will achieve a 50% reduction in just a few short years and we aspire to reduce carbon by 80% after that. In Colorado, we have aggressive plans to add more wind, solar, natural gas generation and battery storage while retiring 2 coal units at Comanche. These efforts are part of the Colorado Energy Plan, which has received widespread stakeholder support. If approved, we expect renewables will make up 55% of our energy on our Colorado system by 2026.
By the same year, we also expect to see carbon emissions in Colorado decline 60% from a 2,005 baseline, again without raising prices for our customers. And here in the upper Midwest, we believe we can get that number even higher, up to an 80% carbon reduction while keeping affordability in mind. A key component to that strategy is running our carbon free nuclear units through their licensing periods in the early 2030s and building the natural gas plant at Sherco to provide backup generation. The best way to keep our nuclear fleet running smoothly is operating them really well. And last year, our Monticello and Prairie Island plants achieved their highest capacity factor since 2010, while simultaneously reducing costs by $25,000,000 So more output at a lower cost, that's really a great outcome.
These plans offer a great example of how we are bringing together different types of resources to achieve aggressive clean energy targets. Wind energy tends to grab most of the attention right now, but we're also ramping up our efforts on solar. Our Minnesota Community Solar Garden program is already the largest in the nation by far and is growing rapidly. We have 187 projects in the design or construction phase that would double the program's energy production in the coming years. We completed our 1st community solar garden in Wisconsin and have 2 more under development.
We have big aspirations to reduce carbons and those efforts are really starting to pay off. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that power generation is no longer the number one emitter of carbon in this country. That title now belongs to the transportation industry and we think we can lend a hand there. I expect the next chapter of the clean energy transition to be the electrification of the transport industry. Electric vehicles charged on our system have moved about 60% to 70% less carbon than traditional gasoline powered vehicles.
And that number will continue to improve as our supply mix increasingly becomes cleaner and cleaner over the coming years. Some car companies in Europe have announced plans to stop producing gas powered vehicles and we expect that trend to eventually come to the U. S. Market. And when it does, we'll be ready.
We have several pilot programs underway to help communities and companies transition their fleets to EVs. And we're developing strategies to make it easy and affordable for customers to charge electric vehicles at home. Of course, the underlying support for the clean energy transition is the electric grid. The grid becomes even more important as we integrate more renewables, more distributed energy sources and more innovative technologies like batteries. I see a future with a modern grid that allows for two way communication, better reliability and the foundation for new programs and pricing to help customers better manage their energy usage.
The modern energy grid in Colorado is already under development. Our $600,000,000 investment focuses on our distribution system and uses a digital platform to improve security and reliability, better integrate solar energy onto our system and use smart meters to provide customers more products to manage their energy consumption. We're excited about deploying advanced grid technologies and we understand the critical importance of keeping the grid safe. It only takes reading a newspaper to see the growing threats from cyber criminals across the globe and we're investing more and more in grid security measures to stay ahead of them. In October, we opened a state of the art cyber defense center that monitors and protects our networks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
And I believe that because utilities play such a critical role in society that we need to be fully engaged in addressing threats to grid security. So I'm helping working to shape national cybersecurity Policy through my participation in the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which advises the executive branch on policies that can enhance protection of critical but we also know that delivering on the fundamentals is not enough as customer expectations continue to rise. Enhancing the customer experience is a key priority for us and one that I'm certain we can deliver on. We're all looking at all of our processes now through the lens of our customers and implementing changes to make it easier to do business with us, from initial sign up to paying your bill to using our energy efficiency programs or expanding your operations. I'm really pleased with our response to our new Renewable Connect service, which provides customers the option to power their homes or businesses with up to 100% certified renewable energy.
This type of offering is certainly attractive to residential customers, but it's also increasingly attractive to businesses that have sustainability targets, helping us better serve our customers and bring new businesses that seek a greener energy product. Renewable Connect is available in Minnesota and we expect it will be available later this month in Colorado. Looking ahead, we plan to take this work to a whole new level. We are combining 3 important areas technology, service and innovation under Brett Carter, our new Chief Customer and Innovation Officer. I'm confident such innovation will not only improve the customer experience, but will also improve efficiency and lower our costs.
And a great example of that is our drone program. Last month, Xcel Energy became the 1st utility in the country to receive FAA approval to fly drones beyond the visual line of sight of the operator without the need for an observer or a chase plane. So starting this summer, our drones will inspect transmission lines in Colorado under these new encouraging rules. We'll roll out this program to other states next year. Using drones is an innovative way to inspect our equipment that enhances both employee and public safety, improves efficiency and will provide an estimate $8,000,000 in cost savings for our customers.
And this is just one example of the type of innovation we plan to put to work for us and our customers. I'm really looking forward to seeing the possibilities. Executing our plans happens because we listen to and partner with our key stakeholders. As a result, communities want to partner with us to help them achieve their own sustainability goals, and we're delivering. For example, we established partnerships in Colorado with the cities of Denver and Breckenridge that will help our communities reach specific renewable energy targets, reduce their carbon footprints, maximize energy efficiency programs and support economic development.
Another partnership is underway right here in St. Cloud. It was perfect timing this last Monday evening when Xcel Energy partnered with the city to officially kick off Sustaining St. Cloud Energy Leaders Community Campaign. Besides partnership in energy programs, there are other ways we help communities become great places to live and work.
And yesterday, we had a chance to demonstrate that support right here when we delivered contributions to 3 organizations that do such great work in this region. Of course, I'm talking about the United Way of Central Minnesota, the Boys and Girls Club, and St. Cloud University through an endowed scholarship program. It it was a lot of fun getting out there and meeting them. And while our financial support is always needed and welcome, what really struck me was how much these organizations appreciate our employees for stepping up and helping them fulfill their important missions.
And that's because we have some great employees. Across our territories, they contribute nearly 50,000 volunteer hours a year and coupled with our foundation match have donated over $6,000,000 to non profit organizations that are important to them. Xcel Energy's success is fueled by our employees who always deliver. They come to work energized to serve you and that commitment is fueled by the passion and focus they bring to their jobs every single day. Many of our employees are military veterans who bring the right stuff to their workplace.
Last year, nearly 10% of our external hires were veterans and that's essentially double the results of just 3 years ago. In fact, 560 of our employees working in Minnesota are veterans who can continue to provide outstanding service. I believe we have the very best employees in the business and I'd like to introduce some of them right now, including members of our executive leadership team. As I call your name, please stand and remain standing. So in addition to Judy, Bob and Scott, we have Brett Carter, our new Chief Customer and Innovation Officer.
We have David Eaves,
our new Group Utilities President and former President of Xcel Energy Colorado Darla Fagoli, our Chief Human Resource Officer Kent Larson, who oversees electric and natural gas operations across our 8 states Tim O'Connor, our Chief Nuclear Officer Jeff Savage, our Chief Accounting Officer We have 3 of our 4 operating company presidents here as well: Mark Storing, who leads our operation in Wisconsin and Michigan Alice Jackson, the new President of Xcel Energy Colorado and Chris Clark, who oversees Minnesota and Dakotas. I'm really proud to lead this team and rest assured that they're working hard to make Xcel Energy successful and strong. Please give them a round of applause. I'd now like to hear your questions. But before I do, let me briefly review the procedure.
There are 2 microphones, 1 on each aisle. Please speak into the microphone so that everyone can hear your question. We'll take one question per shareholder at a time and please limit your question or comments to 3 minutes. Also, if you have a customer related question, please see Michael Gersack. Michael, could you stand?
Darla Fagoli can answer any employee questions you may have and they'll be happy to speak with you after the meeting. Individuals seated at the shareholder table in the lobby can handle any additional shareholder services questions you may have as well. So please wait to be recognized, let us know your name and whether or not you're a shareholder before you begin. And with that, let's get started.
My name is Teresa Bonin and I'm President of the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce. It's a business association of 1,000 organizations that cover a 30 mile radius around St. Cloud and we're also the umbrella organization over the St. Cloud Area Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as Sock Rapids in Wade Park Chambers.
Xcel Energy has been a significant partner with our chamber and our business community as you strive to bring your best customer service and support to our communities. Thank you for your continued membership and the volunteer engagement of Mark Ossendorf, who has served in leadership roles with our Chamber Government Affairs and member services and as well as serving a significant role on our Board of Directors and Executive Committee. My question for you is that while the Chamber is mindful of sustainability and protecting the environment, keeping bills low is absolutely critical to our members' success overall. So what's XL's strategy to balance sustainability with costs?
Well, thanks for your question and thanks for your support. It's a great chamber you're running and we do appreciate that. I don't think they're mutually exclusive. As I mentioned, steel for fuel where we can take renewables and the cost of those renewables is actually less expensive than fossil fuels helps lower bills. So, we are lowering the fuel portion of your bill by investing capital to do so.
And it's really a pretty simple math equation. We can look out and we know how much it would cost to buy a strip of gas for 10 or 20 years. We compare that with what it would cost to build a renewable and amortize those costs. And increasingly, renewables are winning big time. The other thing we're looking to do, and if you think back to renewables, we started doing renewables at the end of the 1990s into the early 2000s.
Remember, we did biomass too. It's really been 2 different technologies. Renewables have continued to fall on price. In 2,008, I'd be talking about wind at $65 now it's $20 solar at $160 now it's $40 but unfortunately biomass now has become the most expensive thing we have on our system. So, we made the commitment to buy out or shut down some of those biomass plants and that will save our customers right here in the upper Midwest over $600,000,000 over the next 10 years.
That's about a 3% reduction in your bill. So, we're totally aligned in keeping bills low, and you have my promise, we will continue to look for those opportunities.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm Bob Tammen from Sudan, Minnesota, up on the Iron Range. My wife, Pat and I are relatively contented stockholders. We appreciate the dividends in our retirement years. And I spent several years working in the mines, which was boom and bust and having an electrical background, I'd run down here and take advantage of Xcel Energy and work in your substation department, sometimes a couple of months, sometimes a couple of years. I'd have to say Xcel is one of my favorite employers over the year, decent paychecks, skilled leadership, a good deal.
But I think back to helping build Prairie Island in 1972 and I was a vigorous young man then. Now I'm retired and physically deteriorate a little bit, cane once in a while, hearing aids, 2 coronary stents. I'm getting to be high maintenance.
I think I know where you're going with that, but go ahead.
And I think back to those nuclear plants I helped build, they're getting to be high maintenance too and I know that because I've helped do some of that maintenance. And of course, I'm glad to see the transitioning to wind power, solar. And I guess my question is, if I go into a catastrophic failure mode, sad for me and I hope for some friends and relatives, If our nukes go into catastrophic failure mode, it's in another situation entirely. I'm hoping as our Chairman that you might have a plan to ramp down these nuclear plants before we have a catastrophic failure. Thank you.
Thank you for your question and I hope you continue to stick around. Listen, our nuclear plants are so important to our carbon free goals. And as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we're running them extremely well. And please understand that when we relicense those plants for another 20 years, we put 1,000,000,000 into refurbishing those plants. So, I guess that would mean the equivalent of new hips, new everything, and they've never run better.
And in fact, if you look at the industry, the industry has never performed better either. And we have 2 important watchdogs. We have the NRC, which of course is a federal body, but we have our own self policing watchdog called INPO. And we're pretty hard on ourselves because I'm with you. We like to say we're all in hell.
I'm a hostage to each other. So, if there's a problem like in Japan, that certainly impacts what happens here in the U. S. And if there was a problem in the U. S, it would be even more impactful to our plants even if they're well run.
So we take it very seriously. We never compromise safety. We're doing a lot to make sure we have the right team dynamics. Tim O'Connor, who is our Chief Nutrient Officer, knows whatever he needs to run those plants, I'm going to give it to him. And he's done a great job of making sure that he can run those plants safely, reliably and affordably.
And I can't tell you where technology is going to go, but these plants are the Prairie Island that you spoke to are scheduled to retire in 1,030,34. And I think we should play out the option and see where technology leads us. Got my promise that we'll never sacrifice reliability. Thank you. Good morning.
Good morning.
My name is Blair Anderson, and I have the honor and privilege of serving the City of St. Cloud as the Chief of Police. I want to thank Xcel Energy for your positive engagement and impact on our community. One of our youth engagement strategies at the police department is a youth leadership academy that we offer to provide support, build relationships and mentor our at risk youth in the whole Greater St. Cloud area through our relationship with Mark Osendorf.
And I guarantee you guys, he didn't pay us to say these nice things about him.
What about those parking tickets,
stuff? Have to go to City Hall for that. Xcel Energy has been a financial supporter of this initiative since the beginning. So thank you and thank you isn't enough. Now I know that Xcel Energy has been recognized as a military friendly employer.
And as a veteran myself, my question is, please share with me some of your strategies that you're developing to keep this effort moving and please accept my sincere thanks for your commitment to this effort.
Thank you. And it was great to talk to you last night. I mean, I think you're doing a terrific job keeping St. Cloud safe. And there were some really interesting facts you shared with me yesterday.
So thank you for that. In terms of the veterans, we it's a passion of mine. And I truly believe that it's the right business institution, but it's the right thing to do for them too and they do have the right stuff. So I think there's a number of things you have to do. 1, you got to focus on it.
True with anything else, what you focus on, you typically deliver, you got to measure it. We've taken the extra step to help translate military skills to civilian skills. I mean, it doesn't it's not a direct translation and we've taken that extra step. We take the extra step to go recruit them in specific using specific recruiters and job fairs, etcetera, trying to reach them before they leave civilian life. And then I would say once they're here, many of them have continued military commitments, and we respect those military commitments.
And we make sure they feel comfortable. We have a number of groups that they also can participate in because the transition from military to civilian life can be especially with the first job, can be not always smooth. And we want to try to rub out those rough edges and make it smooth for them, and it's working. And we'll continue to do that and we want to apply those same techniques by the way to increasing our diversity and gender hiring, which is also a big focus of ours and we're going to do more with that in the future as well. So when I became CEO almost 7 years ago, I knew that half of our workforce is going to retire in the 10 years.
And I saw that as a challenge and an opportunity at the same time. And things like the veteran hiring and some of the other things we're doing internally, I'm really, really, really quite proud of. So thank you for that question and comment. Any more questions?
My name is Ed Meyer. I don't have a question, but we just live across the river here. And I would like to thank you for having your meeting here in St. Cloud. I noticed you had an early picture of St.
Cloud to Granite City and that has been gone for 75 years. That used to be Highway 10, but I can still remember when that was up. Thanks again.
Thank you. Thanks for that.
Good morning. I'm Ken Holman. I'm the Head of CentraCare. We have 12,000 plus employees in Central Minnesota, spread in pharmacies and clinics and hospitals. And I would start first with appreciation.
We are a community in this town, aren't we? And your commitment to our community that is shared by many of our organizations is remarkable. It's what makes us at our best all the time. So thank you for that. Thank you.
2nd is a value question. We've been partnering with you on your conservation program for years, several $100,000 But health care costs in America are expensive. And I'm glad you mentioned your stents. I won't ask you where you had them done because you maybe had them done elsewhere. But this notion of healthcare costs, we really appreciate your commitment to value because that is an important equation for us as we look at the cost of health care.
The question is this, sustainability. For us large organizations, strategic planning is not next year, it's 5 years, it's 10 years and 15 years out. So give me a thought on what you think is going to happen to electricity, nuclear fusion, more and more dependency on wind, biomass, ocean currents. What do you think is going happen to help us address long term sustainability and lower cost in energy?
Thank you again.
Thank you. Well, I appreciate that question. It's something we obviously think a lot about. And I think we're starting to deliver the future tomorrow or today. I would not have told you that economically, we could get to 50% carbon reductions by 2022, but yet that's where we are today.
I'm really excited about the pace of technology and what it can do for our business, making us more efficient, helping customers conserve energy, which of course is carbon free when you don't need the energy and what we can do with our own portfolio of generation. And the advances in batteries, the advances in other technology, they continue to move forward. We're going to pilot those programs when they're not quite ready economically to put out in a large scale in our system, and we're going to understand how they can work. So when the technology matches value, we'll put it on our system. But as I mentioned, I think by 2,030, we can have reduced here in the upper Midwest carbon emissions by 80% and have an 85% carbon free product.
That is really extraordinary. Can we do more? I think we'll have to see where technology goes to do that. There is a limit on how much renewables you can put on a large grid. An individual customer, of course, can be 100% renewable as can a business.
But ultimately, there's a little bit of just moving the renewables around on the grid. But we're talking about 60% renewable penetration. Again, that is not something I thought I could talk to you about just a few short years ago because of the reliability aspects of that. We're learning how to integrate renewables better than any other company in the country because we're the leader in renewables, and I'm convinced that we'll learn to do even more in the coming years. So stay tuned.
Thank you.
Hi. I'm Leslie Glustrom and I've come from Colorado and want to thank you so much and the work of Xcel Energy leading the clean energy transition. I the old folks, I'm on the verge of tears. I cannot thank you enough. Your work hiring veterans, helping out in Puerto Rico, it all makes me both a very proud customer and a CrowdCloud shareholder.
So appreciate the leadership all around. You're showing the rest of the country how it can be done. And our country needs that kind of leadership. So I just want you to know how sincere my gratitude is. So having said that, I come from Colorado and I've handed out to the Board because I'm sitting next to them, but have some extra copies.
One of XL's goals is to be a preferred and trusted provider. I think that's a fabulous goal as we head into a century where there's going to be more options, more competition, less monopoly kind of things that came from the last sincere. And I think it's an excellent goal. But I also think it's a little like the dieter who's like, I'm going to lose that weight, but then there's the brownies, right? And it's a little hard, especially at midnight, it's a little hard to resist those brownies at midnight.
So this handout has a number of issues from Colorado, where I feel the company has not, in a sense, resisted the brownies. You've kind of taken things that aren't really right to take. I would just sort of you have all your questions and your ethics guidance. I think of the old woman, the women I see in my grocery store and they maybe have $30 to spend on groceries. You have to think about whether it's okay for them.
You would never mug this old woman and take $10 out of her purse. That way, you would never do that. But these decisions and I start with Rush Creek, the wind farm, very excited about the wind farm. You pushed it through the Colorado Commission at 20 in the neighborhood of $28 $29 a megawatt hour. We now know you could have gotten it a lot cheaper.
A company that wanted to be trustworthy would have gone straight away to the commission and said, boy, we got our bids, we were wrong. Dollars 28 to $29 a megawatt hour is not the lowest cost. And we want to take a step back and figure out how to bring our customers some wind in the low 20s or possibly lower, because we know we'll save our customers 1,000,000 of dollars when we do that. This situation is running all around Colorado. People know this.
There's the Internet and Facebook and every other thing. So you might think it's hidden down at the commission, but it's not. And it undermines trust and it does worse things than that. I mean, people just really don't appreciate it. I would say paying off Comanche 1 and 2, paying off the full unappreciated costs and then slipping into testimony that we want the return at the WACC, weighted average cost of capital, 7% return on investments that won't be producing.
We think of them as stranded assets. No business would think about that. And it's certainly we did a meeting just 2 nights ago in Colorado. They weren't just disgusted. They were really angry.
I would ask my question, it goes on from there. I just jump forward rate increases. You don't need a rate increase with $494,000,000 of after tax net income in Colorado. That's taken money out of old people, old ladies' purses. You should really look carefully at that.
Last thing I'll say is Jeff West, one of your people, really fine guy, presented to Boulder County Commissioners on the coal ash at Belmont. He failed to talk about the statistically significant increases. So my question is, can you work with your Board to make sure that your employees are operating in an environment that engenders trust, truly engenders trust with your customers? I think your intentions are right, but you're not there yet. I appreciate the time very much.
Thank you, Ms. Glostrom. We obviously think transparency is extremely important. I don't know the specifics of the employee you mentioned. I know it was around some sharing of some data around coal ash.
You have my promise that the remediation additional remediation, if it's necessary, will be done and we'll close that coal ash pond with the environment and human health and safety in mind. That's what we've done in the past. That's what we'll do in the future. I think you and I disagree a little bit with Comanche 1 and 2. These were decisions that primarily the thing we're talking about here was our decision to add pollution abatement equipment.
One of the things we haven't talked about, we focus on carbon. Remember the classic pollutants, mercury, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide? Well, the environment benefited from those investments. And what we're talking about now is if we're going to shut the plants down early, we need to accelerate the depreciation associated with that. So, goes, there was some transmission embedded in that $20 to $29 price that you talked about.
And that's opened up and I think you'll see this when we get more details around the color at our energy plan. That's opened up some additional wind resources that are going to be very economic. And the reality is the wind technology keeps getting better and better. Again, I was really happy to have had a conversation with you in 'eight if we talked about $65 Megawatt Hour Wind, right? I'm happy to talk about where wind is today.
So technology is going to keep getting better. So one thing we do have to be careful about, I think, is you don't want to over hedge either because I think with wind, we're locking in those federal tax credits, which are going to phase down. I think with solar, we've got a little more time. So I don't want to over hedge either because I am committed to keeping bills low. My board is committed to delivering on our strategy.
And you've got my promise, health and human safety will never be compromised. I appreciate your comments.
Thank you so much.
Well, I think we gave you back 3 minutes in your day. And so with no more questions oh, do you have a question? Sorry.
Well, this is a good one.
I'll throw you a softball right at the end. You saw me in the video. Ben, thank you very much
for coming the other day.
I'm a customer, shareholder and a partner. John Wright's from the United Way of Central Minnesota, United Way. Exela is one of United Way's best supporters across the country, 6,000,000 here in Central Minnesota. We get 180,000 of that. Thank you very much.
You're one of our largest partners here. I've gotten to golf with a few of your presidents over there at the Sherco Classic. Hopefully not too often. Well, no, just one time a year. So I do pull again, I guess we need pay Mark Osendorf.
He is on our Board as well. So he gets around, just so you know that. You have your own personal story of being the Chair of the United Greater Cities United Way campaign this last year. You and your wife, thank you very much for that support. In Central Minnesota, we work a lot about and are trying to innovate as we think about the poverty and kids' poverty in Central Minnesota.
As ExCel thinks about how much they need to think about your own innovation in the electric business, one, I'd love to think about how you can help our nonprofit community, the United Way, think about innovation. And are there any successes that you heard from the Greater Twin Cities United Way or your time across the United Way system in terms of helping kids in poverty?
John, thanks for that. It was really fun talking to you at the visit we had. I'll just the interest of time, I'll point out one thing that I'm really proud of, and it's the step up program that we do in the Twin Cities. And we've been big supporters of it. And for the people in the room, it's giving high school students, typically disadvantaged students, the opportunity to experience work, meaningful work through internship programs.
And it's been very successful. It started with R. T. Ryback. U.
S. Bank was an early first participant in it as were we. And where we want to take this now is creating a database that we can track those students as they go through college and we don't lose them outside of the region. And I think it's a model we can look at across the United States. And Judy, who's sitting beside me is really leading that effort here at Xcel Energy, and I'm really excited about it.
And I mentioned my visit in Puerto Rico, but the end of summer pizza parties that we have for the interns is also brings tears to your eyes and we can do more of that. Thank you. Thank you. So with that, I want to thank you all for coming out. Please have a safe journey home.
Stay safe. And thanks for your support of Xcel Energy and enjoy this wonderful day. Thank you so much. We're adjourned.