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Xcel Energy Subsidiary Northern States Power Co.-Minnesota Announces Debt Financing

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^{Published in Business and Finance on Wednesday, August 11th 2010 at 8:10 GMT by Market Wire}  

MINNEAPOLIS--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) subsidiary Northern States Power Co.-Minnesota (NSP-Minnesota) today announced that it closed an offering of $250.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 1.95% first mortgage bonds due August 15, 2015 (the 2015 Bonds) and $250.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.85% first mortgage bonds due August 15, 2040 (the 2040 Bonds). The 2015 Bonds and the 2040 Bonds are redeemable at any time subject to certain amake wholea provisions prior to May 15, 2015 and February 15, 2040, respectively. After these dates, the bonds are callable at par.

NSP-Minnesota intends to apply the majority of net proceeds to the repayment of outstanding short-term debt, including short-term debt incurred to fund the repayment at maturity of $175 million of 4.75% first mortgage bonds due August 1, 2010. The balance of net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including the funding of our utility capital expenditure program.

BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and RBS Securities Inc. acted as joint book-running managers for the offering. Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), Inc. and U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc. were co-managers for the offering.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplement. A prospectus supplement related to the offering has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus for the offering may be obtained on the Securities and Exchange Commissiona™s website at [ www.sec.gov ]. Alternatively, any underwriter or dealer participating in the offering will send you the prospectus if you request it by calling (i) BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, toll free at 1-800-269-6864, (ii) Citigroup Global Markets Inc., toll free at 1-877-858-5407, or (iii) RBS Securities Inc., toll free at 1-866-884-2071.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect managementa™s current views with respect to future events, based on what NSP-Minnesota believes are reasonable assumptions. No assurance can be given, however, that these events will occur, including the closing of the above mentioned offering. Such forward-looking statements are intended to be identified in this document by the words aanticipate,a abelieve,a aestimate,a aexpect,a aintend,a amay,a aobjective,a aoutlook,a aplan,a aproject,a apossible,a apotential,a ashoulda and similar expressions. Actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions, including the availability of credit and its impact on capital expenditures and the ability of NSP-Minnesota to obtain financing on favorable terms; business conditions in the energy industry; actions of credit rating agencies; competitive factors, including the extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets served by NSP-Minnesota; unusual weather; effects of geopolitical events, including war and acts of terrorism; state, federal and foreign legislative and regulatory initiatives that affect cost and investment recovery, have an impact on rates or have an impact on asset operation or ownership or imposed environmental compliance conditions; structures that affect the speed and degree to which competition enters the electric and natural gas markets; costs and other effects of legal and administrative proceedings, settlements, investigations and claims; actions of accounting regulatory bodies; and the other risk factors listed from time to time by NSP-Minnesota in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Risk Factors in Item 1A and Exhibit 99.01 of NSP-Minnesotaa™s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and on NSP-Minnesotaa™s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2010 and June 30, 2010. NSP-Minnesota assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this news release.