Xcel Energy celebrates a year of giving back

Xcel Energy applies for electric rate increase

Xcel Energy extends a ‘thank you’ to its employees for volunteering their time and donating money to support the communities the company serves.

Xcel Energy employees and retirees volunteered nearly 70,000 hours to support 800 nonprofits in 2019. Employees, retirees and board members also donated to nonprofits and their gifts were matched by the company’s foundation. Through this program, donations totaled more than $6.1 million to charities and educational institutions this year. Those donations included $10,000 to the Town of La Pointe fire department to help replace equipment lost in a fire at their station on Madeline Island earlier this year.

Xcel Energy’s Day of Service is an annual tradition where employees gather in teams and spend the day doing service projects for local nonprofits. On the ninth annual Day of Service more than 5,300 employees volunteered for a combined total of nearly 16,000 hours during the one-day event, doing everything from packing food, to planting trees and cleaning up riverbanks, to landscaping and filling backpacks with school supplies.

“I’m so proud of our employees who do so much to support the communities where we live and work,” said Ben Fowke, chairman, president, CEO, Xcel Energy. “Together we can make a real difference in the areas that we serve.”

Xcel Energy is so committed to giving back that it offers employees up to 40 hours a year of paid time off to volunteer, but many employees also give much more of their own time to their favorite causes.