good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 2019 Xcel Energy Annual Shareholders Meeting. We're delighted to be here in Pueblo and I'm thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of days in the community. It's great to be here in Colorado with the spectacular Rocky Mountains as a backdrop. Now this is the first time we've held our annual meeting here in Pueblo and I appreciate the warm welcome you've shown us. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to spend time at City Hall with Mayor Nick Gradisar City Council President Nick Flores County Commissioners, Garrison Ortiz Terry Hart and Chris Wiseman as well as members of the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation Board.
And it's our honor today to have Mayor Gradazar with us. And we'd like to turn the microphone over to the Mayor for a welcome. Thank
you. I want to read this proclamation, City of Pueblo, Colorado, Mayorial Proclamation, Xcel Energy Day, May 15, 2019. Whereas Xcel Energy is leading the clean energy transition to renewable energy sources and its corresponding economic development and whereas Xcel Energy is committed to the great state of Colorado, investing in our communities and in the energy infrastructure to provide customers with safe and reliable natural gas and electricity service and whereas Xcel Energy and the City of Pueblo have long enjoyed a collaborative relationship And whereas Xcel Energy is a key employer in the Pueblo area, providing good jobs for residents at the Pueblo Service Center and Comanche Generating Station and Whereas, Xcel Energy is the electric service provider to Everas at the heart of the Steel City as well as the gas service provider for the Pueblo community. And whereas, Xcel Energy is an active partner within the Pueblo community, supporting numerous non profit organizations that improve the lives of our residents and whereas Pueblo is honored to welcome the Xcel Energy Board of Directors as we play host to the 2019 Annual Shareholder Meeting. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Mayor Nicholas Gradisar, do hereby proclaim May 15, 2019, as Xcel Energy Day in the great city of Pueblo, Colorado.
Welcome.
Thank you so much, Mayor. We appreciate the proclamation and the time we were able to spend with you and other community leaders yesterday. The past decade, we've taken our annual shareholders meeting on the road to communities across our service territory. Our entire team enjoys the opportunity to spend time in these communities to engage with local leaders, connect with customers, meet with our employees and visit with fellow shareholders. It drives home the important role that energy plays in our communities and reminds us of the tremendous responsibility we have to deliver that service well and highlights our partnerships that build even stronger economies.
Now we recognize that our success is tied to the success of those we serve, our communities and our customers. Vibrant, growing communities support our business growth, while reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy powers these economies. It's fitting that we're holding this meeting here in Pueblo where the transition to a cleaner energy transition is well underway. The towers that support our giant wind turbines are made by Vestas right here in this community. Pueblo is also the home to Comanche Solar Project, one of the largest solar farms east of the Rockies.
And we've just signed an agreement with Pueblo County to help them achieve their renewable energy goals through our Partners in Energy program. Of course, our dedicated employees at the Comanche Power Plant here in town have produced electricity for Coloradans for decades. As most of you know, we are retiring 2 of the Comanche coal units in the next 6 years, one at the end of 2020 2 and the other at the end of 2025. These retirements are part of our Colorado Energy Plan, a transformative effort that delivers on our clean energy vision, keeps energy affordable and reliable and stimulates economic development. This plan receives significant support from across the state, including right here in Pueblo County.
It represents significant change and we are taking a thoughtful and collaborative approach to ensure a successful transition for our communities and our employees. You'll be hearing more about these efforts later in my remarks. So once again, thank you for your hospitality. We're so pleased to be here in Pueblo and plan to serve Colorado for many years to come. So with that, let's move on to the business at hand.
On stage with me are Judy Profill, our Corporate Secretary Bob Frenzel, our Chief Financial Officer and Scott Walensky, our General Counsel. In New Roccel 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 that were listed in the proxy statement The polls are now open for voting on these matters.
Once the business meeting concludes, I'll share my perspective about our 2018 performance and our plans for the future. And after that, you'll have the opportunity to ask some questions. Our meeting will adjourn no later than noon. Before proceeding to the business meeting, I'd like to make a few other introductions, starting with the Xcel Energy Board of Directors. Now this is a talented and committed Board and one that takes its responsibility seriously.
Our Board ensures that strong governance starts with high ethical standards and provides oversight to our strategy that creates long term value. I will ask each Director to stand and remain standing until all have been introduced, and please hold your applause until after I name the last Director. Let's start with our newest Board member, Len Casey, Chair of Padilla. Next, we have Richard Davis, President and CEO of Make A Wish Foundation. Richard is also the 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 Edison Electric Institute Chris Polisinski, Retired President and CEO of Land O'Lakes Inc, who also serves as our Lead Independent Director Jim Prokopenko, Retired President and CEO of the Mosaic Company Pat Sampson, CEO, President and Owner of the Sampson Group David Westerlund, Retired Executive Vice President of Administration and Corporate Secretary of Ball Corp Tim Williams, retired partner at Wellington Management Company LLP Tim Wolf, President of Wolf Interest Inc. Daniel Johannes, the former United States Ambassador to the Organization For Economic Cooperation and Development. And finally, Joe Shepherd, Independent Consultant and Former Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer at Southern applause. Deloitte is the independent accountant engaged to audit Xcel Energy's financial statements.
Representing the organization today are Chris Lee and Judy Dockendorf. Chris and Judy, would you please stand? Also with us today is Chris Brown, President of Vestas America, which operates a wind turbine manufacturing right here in Pueblo. Vestas is an important partner as we deploy more wind energy and we're delighted to have Chris with us today. Chris, could you stand?
And finally, I'm hoping we have some Xcel Energy retirees here in attendance. Anybody have retiree? Raise your hand. That's the one. All right.
Well, thank
you for your service and
thanks for being here today. So we'll now proceed with the formal business portion of the meeting, which will be conducted by our Corporate Secretary, Judy Profel. 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 21, 2019. As of that date, there were 514,666,000 986 shares of common stock outstanding.
Each share has one vote. A list of our registered shareholders proxy at this meeting and so we do have a quorum. Now, as proxy at this meeting and so we do have a quorum. Now if you've already voted your proxy, your votes will be cast as you've instructed. There's no need for you to vote by ballot today unless you want to change your vote.
If you have not voted by proxy yet or would like to change your hand at this time and a ballot will be brought to you. Okay, thank you. Peggy Stein from Macquinity is our Inspector of Election. So Peggy will bring you the ballot. Thank you.
So there are 3 proposals that will be voted on today, the details of which were provided in the proxy statement. Proposal number 1 is the election of 13 directors to 1 year's terms. The names of the nominees who Ben just introduced are listed in the proxy statement and around the screen. Proposal number 2 seeks approval on an advisory basis for our executive compensation. Proposal number 3 seeks approval of the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte and Touche LLP as Xcel Energy Incorporated's independent registered public accounting firm for 2019.
Now we'd like to gather the ballots that were cast here today. Not to put you under any pressure.
Are we okay? Okay.
Okay. With that, I now declare the polls closed. Thank you very much. Official results which will include the ballot cast at this meeting will be disclosed in the 8 ks filing and posted on the Xcel Energy website. Meanwhile, the Inspector of Election has provided us a preliminary result that shows that all director nominees were elected and all management proposals were approved.
So the formal business portion of this meeting is now officially adjourned. In a couple of minutes, Ben will discuss the company's 20 18 performance and our industry leading carbon free vision. Following his remarks, members of the audience will have the opportunity to share a comment or to ask a question. Please limit your remarks to 3 minutes so that others can have a turn and thank you for following the rules of this business meeting. Let me also remind you that we may make some forward looking statements during this 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 this presentation. The nearest GAAP measure and reconciliation to the non GAAP measure can be found in our 2018 year end earnings release that's located on the Investor Relations page of our website. Now as Ben mentioned, we're very happy to be here in Pueblo. It gives us a great opportunity to celebrate our commitment to the communities we serve and to 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 to share his perspective. Thank you.
I think that video really brings to life Xcel Energy's journey. The theme, Building the Future, highlights our thoughtful yet rapid transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. We're proud to lead the industry change while enhancing reliability and ensuring affordability for all of our customers. Most of my remarks will focus on the clean energy transition, but let me start by discussing our financial performance where once again we delivered for you our shareholders. We reported 2018 GAAP and ongoing earnings of $2.47 per share at the top end of our original guidance range compared to 2017 GAAP earnings of $2.25 per share and ongoing earnings of $2.30 per share.
Let me provide a few other financial highlights. 2018 marked the 14th consecutive year that we met or exceeded our earnings guidance. Since 2,005, we've achieved an annual earnings growth rate of 6.1%. We've increased our dividend by 5.6%, marking the 15th consecutive year of dividend growth. And we expect our dividend to grow by 5% to 7%, and we increased our long term EPS growth rate to that same target, signaling our confidence in 2019 beyond.
Our 3 year total shareholder return was just over 51%, which easily outpaced our peer group average of just under 35%. In December, our stock reached an all time high of $53.68 and I'm pleased to say it's even higher today. In fact, Monday, we hit a new all time high of $57.78 We're optimistic about the future have reaffirmed our 2019 earnings guidance range of $2.55 to $2.65 per share. The year is off to a strong start with 1st quarter earnings at $0.65 or $0.61 per share, exceeding last year's results and meeting analyst expectations. While we know the importance of delivering on our annual results, we've also taken a disciplined approach to planning for the future.
Our growth initiatives over the next 5 years call for $20,000,000,000 in capital investments that will deliver tremendous values for shareholders while providing the clean and affordable energy our customers want and need. We apply a thoughtful approach to our business and we align our work around 3 strategic priorities: leading the clean energy transition, enhancing the customer experience and keeping bills low. Me spend a little time talking about each of those priorities and how they work together to deliver value for our customers, our communities and our shareholders. In December, Xcel Energy became the nation's 1st energy company to announce a goal to produce 100% carbon free electricity by 2,050. Also set an interim goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2,030.
I believe this bold vision is achievable. Over the last 15 years, we've demonstrated the ability to move from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, while keeping prices affordable and service reliable. And that's important because those are the outcomes our customers and communities want. Continued advancements in renewable energy have improved performance and lowered prices. In just the last 3 years, wind energy pricing has come down almost 25% and universal solar prices have dropped by a third.
Since 2,005, we've invested $3,400,000,000 to build wind farms to serve our customers and have an additional $3,700,000,000 of forecasted wind investments over the next 3 years. Our wind portfolio with nearly 7,300 megawatts in service is the 2nd largest in the country among utilities and accounts for about 8% of the nation's total wind capacity. Now this move from fossil fuels to low cost renewables has reduced carbon emissions associated with serving our customers by nearly 40%. Through our Steel for Fuel growth strategy, we expect to have over 10,000 megawatts of wind on our system by 2021. Today, we have 12 wind farms at various stages of development across our service territory.
Our Cheyenne Ridge wind farm, part of the Colorado Energy Plan proposal, received verbal approval last month. And in Texas, our hail wind farm is slated to go in service in June. Collectively, these wind projects bring us much closer to our carbon reduction targets. But just as important, they create real savings for our customers. Our wind expansion is expected to save customers 100 of 1,000,000 of dollars over the lives of these projects.
We can invest in infrastructure, the steel of our wind turbines and the cost is more than offset by the fuel savings from not burning fossil fuels. Hence, the name we coined for this strategy, Steel for Fuel. By next year, Renewables will be our largest source of energy and they will only grow from there. But a responsible clean energy strategy requires diligence when it comes to reliability and affordability. Clean, reliable and affordable must all work in concert to be effective.
The ultimate goal is that we reduce carbon emissions as quickly as possible, while maintaining outstanding reliability and unwavering affordability. Going forward, renewable energy along with other innovations like battery storage and demand side management will play important roles. But we need other energy sources too. For example, our nuclear plants are critical to achieving our aggressive carbon reduction targets and natural gas will serve an important role as a bridge fuel. Today, the nation's nuclear fleet provides almost 20% of the country's energy, but it accounts for nearly 55% of the carbon free energy.
And let's not discount the role of natural gas as we move away from coal. Gas has half the carbon content of coal and it can use to back up wind and solar energy. Both nuclear and natural gas offer important grid health attributes and need to be part of the solution. We've come such a long way in our clean energy journey and we've gotten there by making sure we do the transition right. With plant closures comes the potential loss of jobs and tax revenue base that our employees and our communities rely on.
That's why partnering with stakeholders is critical and why we spend so much time on it. A cornerstone of that work has been to prepare our employees and our communities for change. For example, we share our long range plans with employees years in advance to provide ample time to seek retraining and to look for other positions within the company. We also put natural attrition to work for us as many long term employees are expected to retire in the next few years. For our host communities, we pledge extra support to drive economic development.
Becker, Minnesota is a really good example. There we have received approval to build a natural gas plant at the site to offset the early retirement of 2 of our Sherco coal units. Using the same location, we'll maintain local tax base, retain some jobs and keep costs down for everyone. Beyond that, we've partnered with local leaders to seek new business for the community. Last year, we successfully attracted a company, Northern Metals, to locate a new recycling plant on our property adjacent to the Sherco site.
And earlier this year, Google announced plans to build a large data center in the area. We've got a similar story right here in Pueblo with upcoming retirements with 2 of the units at Comanche. It was critical that we work with Everest Rocky Mountain Steel to ensure that we could meet its energy needs and long term sustainability goals. Had the opportunity yesterday to meet with General Manager, Ben Lutze, and we discussed our new long term agreement that will keep Everest and Pueblo for decades to come. So as I mentioned, our carbon reduction goals are the most progressive in the country.
But just as it is important to listen to scientists about climate risk, it's just as important to listen to engineers about reliability. And our engineers believe that while it won't be easy, we can reach our 2,030 target using existing technologies. But to be 100% carbon free by 2,050, we'll need some new technologies. And I'm a firm believer that we need to be technology agnostic when it comes to reaching that carbon free target because we must be open to all options. And that includes the next generation of nuclear, could include carbon capture, long term battery storage, new ways to help customers save energy and maybe even some technologies that haven't been invented yet.
But given the rapid rate of technology change, I'm confident that with support from policymakers, we can be carbon free by 2,050, while keeping our products reliable and affordable. Just as we're investing in the clean energy transition, we're also enhancing the customer experience. One of the best examples is right here in Colorado, where we are making a $600,000,000 investment in the Advanced Grid that will strengthen reliability, support new service offerings and help customers better manage their energy use and lower their bills. Within the next year, we expect to begin installing smart meters that take advantage of two way digital technology. Now this will give us real time information so we can isolate outages when severe weather damages the grid and in some cases automatically reroute power to shorten or prevent outages.
The Advanced Grid will allow us to put more renewable energy onto our system and will give us important insights for developing new pricing plans. Customers will see their energy usage in almost real time, helping them to better manage their monthly bills. While the Advanced Grid will allow us to better serve our customers, we fully understand the need to protect our customer data. So cybersecurity will be a key component of our work. Now that the Avance Grid is moving forward in Colorado, expect us to file similar plans in Minnesota later this year.
Our regulators have also supported our efforts to help our customers meet their own sustainability goals. Our Renewable Connect program offers the opportunity for customers to receive up to 100 percent certified renewable energy. And we must be on to something because that program has sold out in record time in both Colorado and Minnesota and we now have a similar program available in Wisconsin. As we work to serve our customers better, they are increasingly looking for us to help them with their transportation choices as well. We're piloting an electric vehicle program in Minnesota that provides charging equipment at the home and in the community along with opportunities for companies to convert their fleets to EVs.
More and more customers are buying EVs every day, and we're working hard to make those experiences as seamless as possible. They can save money and help the environment by doing so. Charging a vehicle today with our electricity will cost you the equivalent of about $1 per gallon of gasoline and it reduces your carbon emissions by 70%. As our product becomes greener and cleaner, that number will increase up to 90% by 2,030. I'm excited that the Minnesota Commission recently approved a $25,000,000 investment to expand these programs.
We're applying the lessons learned from this pilot to develop programs in other states. Bringing our clean energy to the transportation sector is a huge growth opportunity for us and we are ready to serve. And I believe it's more important than ever to not just satisfy your customers, but to delight your customers. Is keeping bills low. Over the last decade, our average residential electric bill has been about 25% lower than the national average.
By focusing on continuous improvement ideas generated by employees, we achieved $59,000,000 in cost savings last year. Great example comes from our nuclear team, which has reduced expenses by over $40,000,000 over the last 3 years, while operating the plants better than ever. They developed a new fuel design that significantly reduces the fuel used to operate the plant and extends the time between refueling outages by about 6 months. That change will save $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 per year in fuel and save $70,000,000 over the next 15 years by eliminating the need for 2 refueling allergists. Now the best ideas are those that can be leveraged across many areas of our business.
Our drone program does just that. Drones improve safety, save time and money and have endless possibilities across our business. I'd like to show you a short video now that highlights our drone program. So, we plan to expand our drone inspection program to other states later this year. So you can see that we have many efforts underway to lead the clean energy transition, enhance our customer experience and keep bills low.
But we cannot do it alone. We need supportive public policy. And one of the advantages of leading the clean energy transition policy to support the most cost effective technologies. If they don't, reliability or affordability may suffer, maybe even both, and we want to serve our customers the best way possible. Our company roots date back more than a century and are intertwined rather with the communities we serve.
We take that responsibility seriously because we know the vital role energy plays in our society. Communities rely on us to deliver safe, reliable and affordable energy, but also to drive economic development and provide support. Yesterday, we had a chance to demonstrate that support right here in Pueblo when we delivered contributions through the Xcel Energy Foundation to 2 organizations that do really great work. We provided a $20,000 grant to support the Pueblo City County Library District to fund the traveling exhibit that documents how energy helped to drive the steel energy in Pueblo and a $50,000 grant to the Pueblo Community College to help fund a solar lab faculty position to help students learn more about renewable energy. Our financial support is always needed and welcome.
What struck me was how much these and other organizations appreciate our employees for their volunteer efforts. As I've said many times before, we have outstanding employees, I think the best in the business. Cell Energy's success is fueled by employees who always deliver. Our team contributes nearly 90,000 volunteer hours a year and coupled with our foundation match, donates over $6,000,000 to non profit organizations that are important to them. Our team comes to work energized to serve you, driven by a passion to do the job well.
I'm so proud that many of our employees are military veterans who bring the right stuff to the workplace. Last year, 10% of our external hires were veterans. And right here in Colorado, more than 3.50 members of our team are veterans. We really do have outstanding employees and we have an outstanding leadership team as well. I'd like to introduce some of them right now, including members of our executive team.
As I call your name, please stand and remain So in addition to Judy and Bob and Scott, we have Brett Carter, our Chief Customer and Innovation Officer David Eaves, our Group Utilities President, who is responsible for our 4 operating companies Darla Figola, 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 Frank Prager, our Vice President of Policy and Federal Affairs. We also have 2 of our 4 operating company presidents with us today as well, Mark Storing, who leads our operations in Wisconsin and Michigan and Alice Jackson, the President of Xcel Energy Colorado. I'm proud to lead this team and you can rest assured that they're working hard to keep Xcel Energy strong and successful. So let's 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 in each aisle. Please speak into the microphone so that everybody can hear your question and we'll take one question per shareholder at a time. Please limit your question or comments to 3 minutes. Also, if you have a customer related question, see Pat Bolen. Pat, can you please stand?
Darla Fagoli can answer any employee questions, and they'll be happy to speak to 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 after the meeting. So please wait to be recognized. Let us know your name, whether or not you're a shareholder before you begin. And so with that, let's get started.
We'll recognize microphone 2.
Yes. Thank you. I'm Rod Slighoff. I'm the President of the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. Nice to see you, Al.
And I just wanted to take just a few minutes, first of all, to thank Xcel for being here for your Annual Shareholders Meeting in Pueblo. We're extremely honored. I represent about 8 70 businesses here in Pueblo, and I can assure you that they all value the relationship that we've had over the years with Xcel Energy. And I just wanted to make a couple of comments about how I appreciated and my Board of Directors appreciated the efforts that XL extended when the discussions started about the closure of Comanche 1 and 2. We started those discussions now I'm thinking almost three and a half years ago.
And we appreciated that as we were able to transition and prepare for all of those things. However, just personally, and I just I say this jokingly, I'm losing a very good employee because of those transitions because her husband is going to move to the Denver area. But that's okay. I'll survive. But anyway, our members, the members I represent and the businesses, I think in Colorado in generally, we really appreciate your foresight in our environment and being a lead in preserving that because without a good clean environment for us to do business in, it's very hard to do that.
Our customers, including those businesses that are your customers as well, appreciate the care that your employees and your leadership has had as they've had to make transitions and work with them so that they have a very limited loss of business when they're going through those changes that we almost do to stay relevant. And the affordability, everybody has to make a profit. Congratulations on your guys' success that you announced with your stocks. But all of our businesses have to be in that position too. And you're an important part of helping them be affordable.
So thank you very much for what you do. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Xcel. And I would just say to you that we're proud of what you have invested in Pueblo, what you still have here in Pueblo, but we have a lot of room for more. So keep us in mind. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We appreciate those comments. I'll just tell you, we know you've heard me say it before, but we're not strong unless our communities are strong. We understand the clean energy transition is the right thing to do, but we also understand it disrupts employees and communities. I'm really proud of our community representatives and how they've worked with communities to smooth that as much as we possibly can as we make this transition.
And I will tell you, it's been a little while since I've been to Pueblo. The amount of change for the good here is truly remarkable. The city and the community leaders are doing a tremendous job. So we thank you too. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I'm Paula Chosner, Director of Fund Development and Campaign for United Way of Pueblo County. And I appreciate the chance to speak with you this morning for just a little bit. When I look back on the relationship between Xcel and United Way of Pueblo County, it's clear that you folks have made a commitment to the entire scope of benefiting our community, not just United Way as such. And that's very telling that the strong among you have committed to helping the most vulnerable among us all.
That's a huge deal to us. Having now completed my 2nd, support that Xcel has offered to United Way and to our community from representatives on our Board of Trustees to sponsorships of events. And these don't immediately come to mind for most people, but for us, it's a big deal. It assists us in our governance, but it also keeps us in the public eye. And so, we deeply appreciate those tangential things to many people, but not necessarily for us.
And the amazing special events and incentives that you provide to your employees that keep us before them and give us a chance to express their philanthropy. On the purely financial side of the campaign, though, I have done some research on the numbers, and that's why I have the paper here today. In the past 6 years, ExCel employee retiree and corporate giving to the community through United Way has totaled $1,502.96 Nice. Which is incredible. And each year, the number of patron givers, those donors whose gifts individually $1,000 or more are larger than any other organization in our campaigns.
Even nicer.
This year, 32 Excel employees set aside $1,000 or more each and payroll deductions wow, seriously.
I see you're making an impact.
I know. That were donated to the work of United Way in Pueblo County. So as donors of a certain vintage, and I timidly raised my hand there, approach their retirement in and what are usually years of decreased giving, Xcel continues to bring on new and younger Every community desperately needs engaged and caring individuals who will step forward and love the place they live and work. And we are so grateful to Xcel for the vital role you play in strengthening our community in those ways. So thank you again very much.
Well, thank you, Paula. Thank you. Again, I'm always amazed at how our employees open up their wallets and their hearts. And we talked a little bit at the reception yesterday about the day of service when they come out and help build some of the infrastructure, not only for all the different charities that your organization supports. So and I do hope the new generation recognizes the value of United Way.
I mean, it's a great place to know your dollars are being put in the right spot. And so we work hard to get that message out. Thank you for the good work you do. Any other yes, we'll go back to microphone 1.
Good morning and it's a great pleasure to welcome so many men and women from Xcel. We had a great time last night. My name is Jim Richardson and I have the honor and privilege of being the CEO of the Sangre de Christo Arts and Conference Center. So, it's fabulous to have so many of you there last night and to have a chance to speak with some of you. It's been invigorating for me to see this particular presentation because, of course, as an art center, we're all about creativity and innovation.
And certainly, one of my mantras is, the future is not about how cheap things are going to be or how quickly we make things, but where the ideas are to come from to solve the problems. And it's really cool to see what you're doing and what you're up to. But more specifically, I would like to talk about Xcel as a community partner. At the Art Center, we certainly face a number of challenges And Excel funding helps us in 4 specific areas. One of those areas is a scholarship program that we have called 321 Going Back to School.
It's really a program focused on 5 year olds to prepare them to go to school. One of the things that we were approached with by the local school district about 4 years ago is how unprepared our young children are in going to school. And so the 321 program really been critical and that serves about 500 children a year now. So we're really pleased to do that because, of course, where are the people that are going to work at ExCel and other places are going to come from, but from our school place. So we're very happy about that.
Another challenge in our community is financial assistance that we provide to low income students for our Friday Arts Academy. Our 2 local school districts here are 4 day a week school systems. So the kids don't have school on Friday and a number of partners have stepped up like the Art Center, the Boys and Girls Club to create cool stuff to do on Friday. So thank you for helping us there. Another thing, we have done a lot more at the Art Center about music education and Excel funding has helped us buy more musical instruments for the children.
And finally, sponsorship of Art Start, which is a Wednesday morning Center is for everyone and really cool. So from my Board and over 2,000 members of the Art Center, a huge thank you for what you provide in this community, and I salute your vision in the future, especially about clean energy. Very exciting for everyone.
Thank you. Well, thank you, Jim. For some of you in the room, we had a really nice community reception at the White Gallery at the center. And if you haven't been there, I encourage you to go there. The artwork was really, really very interesting and I found some of it very moving.
You do a great job and we're happy to support. Thank you. Recognize the microphone 1 there.
And I am not a shareholder today, but because of your leadership, because of the direction that you've taken Xcel, how's it what I've seen today, tomorrow, I will be. Great. Thank you. I wanted to also, even though you've taken this great step, you've begun to define the future for XL and also provide leadership within the industry, I'm going to encourage you to look at another step that you might be wanting to take. I want you to begin to consider embracing energy competition in the marketplace.
When I first came to Colorado, Mountain Bell was the only place that I could get phone service from, '70s. Mountain Bell is not to be found. Technology changes, customer preferences, all changed the environment in which a one time monopoly thrived now ceases to exist. I would encourage you to begin to look at positioning Excel in a competitive marketplace, not regionally bound, using the leadership that you've already provided to consider competing in the energy marketplace in a non monopoly environment. The people of Colorado granted a monopoly.
People of Colorado can also remove that grant. Beginning to position yourself now for a competitive environment will give you an advantage. You already have an advantage leadership, name recognition here in Colorado. I would encourage you to begin to position the company for a competitive marketplace. Thank you.
It's Steve, right? Thank you, Steve, for those comments. I fully agree that if we're going to stay regulated, we need to think competitively. And that's why when you saw our strategic priorities, it's leading the clean energy transition, it's enhancing the customer experience. We know that our customers don't rate us against Comcast.
They look and see what an Uber and even a Pizza Hut can do when it comes to delivering your pizza. And we need to keep up with I fully agree with that. And the final thing as you might recall was keeping our bill as low. We are seeing competition. And it's the reason why through innovation, our rates are actually total bills are 9% lower today here in Colorado than they were 5 years ago.
So we understand that we need to keep bringing technology in so that our customers want us to be the provider because increasingly they are getting choice. Now one of the things we have to make sure is when we talk about choice, we do have we compare things apples to apples. Sometimes it's apples to oranges. And of course, renewables are getting less expensive today than they were 10 years ago by a significant amount. It doesn't mean we shouldn't have have those renewables 10 years ago.
So I take your comments and I believe that it's going to be really important. Never take never confuse customer loyalty with Captivity. And that's why we are really keenly focused on doing more for our customers than ever before. Thank you. Any other questions?
Microphone 2.
Good morning, Board and members of the management team. Thank you. My name is Leslie Glostrom and I know many of you and appreciate the opportunity to be here again. And the Board members have a packet of materials and if anybody else wants a packet, I'm a mother. I'm really concerned about the future and I'm also a biochemist.
So I have a profound appreciation for this miracle of life on the planet. And that has led me to, again, a profound concern about climate change. And so as XL knows, I'm just beyond thrilled front pages. Thank you, XL. Beyond thrilled with the leadership that's being shown by Mr.
Folk, by all the management team, by the Board, leading the clean energy transition. I'm going to try to get through this without crying. I can't tell you how grateful I am.
Now, Leslie, don't you start crying because I don't want to start crying necessarily.
You're very kind. Okay. I'll try not to. But I am profoundly grateful and really for everyone on the planet because a planet that's in chaos is a planet that doesn't function. That's the trajectory we're on now for our children and our grandchildren on down.
So thank you ever so much for your leadership. I am hoping that the Board will help carry this message to all of your companies and your contacts. The leadership that you're seeing from a company that not long ago was sort of 80%, 90% dependent on coal, they've now said we're going to keep the lights on in Denver and Minneapolis and every other place. We're going to do it by lowering our carbon dramatically, being on track for about a 1.5 degree C warming, which is still way too much, but it's about the best we can do at this point. This is leadership and that's why I would cry, but I don't want to waste all 3 minutes crying.
So thank you ever so much. I appreciate your Chairman Fowke has I believe really provided so much of this leadership and the rest of you are doing a great job. Your packet has 2 caveats, and I would ask you to think about those. And I also want to thank you for the help you're giving to Pueblo and other communities like Becker, St. Cloud area and Minneapolis.
Communities have been very aren't doing that. The coal companies aren't doing that. You are. Thank you ever so much. So one caveat is carbon is forever.
So every time we run a coal train to Denver or to Brush or to Sherco or wherever, some of that carbon from your packet you can see will stay in the atmosphere for up to 400000 years. We're not just talking our children and our grandchildren, we're talking about 100 of generations down the road. So every coal train that we can stop, every time we can reduce our reliance on natural gas while maintaining affordability and reliability is a great story. And thank you so much. Just so the whole Board hears it and I'm in public on record, I would love to see coal plants retired, but the more important thing to me is to bring the capacity factor down, use them less often, keep them around for what I call the 5 day blizzard or the bomb cyclone or whatever it is.
We don't quite know how to do this yet. Your operations people have been amazing. Please thank them. They have done things they thought were completely impossible. Please thank them if are not already here.
You really have shown the way. So you couldn't do it if they didn't know how to keep the lights on when the wind goes from 3,000 megawatts to 0 and the load goes up and on and on. So that's big stuff and you're all the techniques and the forecasting.
The next page for the
board packet is 415 And my case, I'm off the charts. But it was at about 315. So we've gone from 315 to 415. If that doesn't send shivers down your spine, you don't really understand what we're dealing with. So time is of the essence.
This is a race against time. Your carbon report talks about that. We're all on the same team. But please carry this message as widely as you can. The next couple of pages were about competition.
Mr. Whitaker has done a really good job there. I know it kind of sounds when you're a monopoly, like why would we ever embrace competition. But if you've ever played a game checkers or tennis or softball and your competition just isn't very good, it's kind of boring. So the best way to forestall competition is to start thinking competitively.
Old monopoly thinking is we just got to convince our regulators and it's all good. New thinking is competition is knocking. We don't know if and when it's going to come, but we know there's a lot of folks ready to bring it to us, bring us higher levels of renewable energy at lower cost. Let's as a company start getting in shape for that. And I think you'll find it's more fun actually.
You'll be a better company. You're already a great company. Thank you so much, but you'll be better. Last point I'd like to make is just around the leading the transition. When I read your carbon report, it's very much focused on centralized solar.
Right now, that's cheapest. But I want to and you might think I'm a little crazy, but I've said this to the company before, think about your children's literature. So in this case, it's the story of the 3 little pigs. And the first little pig went out and said, oh, I'm just going to build a straw house. And this is quick and easy and cheap until the wolf comes along.
I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down. And as we head into extreme weather, centralized solutions are not going to be the best solutions. So let's really keep that balance going. Let's keep working on your micro grids. Let's not try to destroy the whole distributed industry because we're actually all going to need them.
And I let's not build a bunch of cell phones that are big bricks. Let's really look to not just the best solution now in 2020, but as hurricanes and fires and the liability that let's talk about BG and E, right, let's think about what it means to have centralized generation and long transmission lines. Again, thank you. I cannot thank you enough. And please just keep going and go faster.
And I know you're committed to that. So thank you so very much.
Well, thank you, Ms. Gloster. I appreciate the comments. We're going to move as fast as we can. As you know, we don't if we were to make our product expensive or worse if we've made our product unreliable, what we're trying to do would come to a screeching halt and naysayers that don't think carbon and climate risk are a real risk would say I told you so.
So we never want to cross that bridge. I appreciate the support. I wish we can get full support some of the things we're doing, but we need to work together And that's a difficult assignment. It's a lot different than being 100% renewable at the individual community level. And of course, if individuals want to do that, we can help them.
But it all gets ultimately synced up to the big grid. So it's a big challenge, but we're up for the challenge to your comments. And I think there's a lot of all of the above when it comes to how we can get that carbon free energy. And again, I appreciate you priding us to get there. We'll continue to make progress.
I can promise you that. Thank you. I have time for one more question, I think. We'll go to microphone 1. Thank you.
Yeah. Good morning, I think still. My name is Jeff Shaw. I'm with the Public Economic Development Corporation. And I had to smile a little bit when you mentioned the competition and hearing the competition.
So, I had the privilege of working with the community and more importantly with ExCel on our largest economic development project, which was really saving Everest Steel Mill. Everest Steel Mill, which really created the history of Pueblo with CF and I, was looking at a very competitive process to build a new long rail mill. And it turned into a competitive process with other states involved and other states were being very, very aggressive in trying to, in our world, say steel, our very large employer to give you an impact to the steel mill to Pueblo. And currently, it's about a $300,000,000 economic impact annually to the community. So, it was a big deal for us.
It created my organization when the steel industry crashed in the late '70s, early '80s. So it really hit us hard. Really, what I'd like to do is say thank you to Xcel, because through that process, there is multiple partners involved with it from the state and local. But the team that Xcel Energy had involved on it to be creative, to face the competition we had, and I know David Eaves is here and Alice and the entire Xcel team, it was wonderful work with such a great organization that was honest. We knew what they're telling us was accurate and true.
They came up with a very, we think, very creative solutions for us to be able to get that the largest incentive package Publ has ever put together. We're still waiting for Everest to make the final decision. But I can honestly say, irregardless of the incentives, if Accel was at the table and how they came to the table to work with us on the project, the incentives wouldn't have mattered because it really came down to the product and the services that Xcel did. So, on behalf of my organization, I just want to say thank you to Xcel and the leadership and the entire team.
Thank you, Mr. Shaw. And thanks for what you did to help keep Everest. And I got to tell you, David Eaves, Alice, the whole team, Holly, Ashley, they make my job a lot easier. So we're glad we can help and we're almost there.
We're almost there. Thanks for coming everyone. We really appreciate the trust you've placed in Xcel Energy. Have a great day. Drive safely home and thank you for being here.