Xcel Signs Deals to Divest Michigan Utilities
The leaders of Xcel Energy Inc. have struck agreements to sell the company’s Michigan utilities to two local utilities.
Terms of the deals proposed by Minneapolis-based Xcel, SEMCO Energy Gas Company and Upper Peninsula Power Company aren’t being disclosed. The proposed transactions, which regulators need to approve, would have SEMCO take over natural gas service to 6,000 customers and UPPCO assume responsibility for about 9,000 electric customers in Gogebic and Ontonagon counties.
“We are committed to ensuring a smooth transition for our customers and employees,” Karl Hoesly, president of Xcel Energy–Wisconsin and Michigan, said in a statement. “Xcel Energy continues to invest heavily in Wisconsin and across its other territories, so this transaction will ensure the customers of the Upper Peninsula will also benefit from focused investments by SEMCO and UPPCO.”
The transactions (which the companies expect will be completed in 2027) won’t be significant to Xcel, which also operates in Minnesota, Colorado, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico and Texas. The company has about 3.9 million electric customers across those service territories so the Michigan divestiture would shrink that number by a mere 0.2%.
Xcel leaders are in the middle of a capital investment plan that envisions putting to work $13.8 billion this year and another $46.2 billion through 2030. Of that amount, about $4 billion has been earmarked for Northern States Power-Wisconsin, which houses the Michigan assets now under contract to be sold.
About the Author
Geert De Lombaerde
Senior Editor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde has more than two decades of business journalism experience and writes about markets and economic trends for Endeavor Business Media publications T&D World, Healthcare Innovation, IndustryWeek, FleetOwner and Oil & Gas Journal. With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati and later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal. Most recently, he oversaw the online and print products of the Nashville Post and reported primarily on Middle Tennessee’s finance sector as well as many of its publicly traded companies.