Xcel customers to receive $5 credit on monthly bill
Xcel Energy is moving forward with plans to deliver $25 million back to North Dakota and South Dakota customers on their bills through federal tax credits on the energy generated by the company's nuclear fleet.
Former state worker accused of forging marijuana card
Xcel Energy's two nuclear power plants, Monticello and Prairie Island, together account for nearly 25% of the electricity used by customers across the company's five-state Upper Midwest system, a news release said.
This is the first time customers will see savings from the federal tax credit on nuclear energy generation, which the company advocated for in recent law.
Starting this month, the average residential customer in South Dakota will receive $5.08 a month in savings, totaling $50.80 through February 2026. Xcel Energy services most of the Sioux Falls area, along with other areas of southeastern South Dakota.
'Our nuclear power plants have produced safe, reliable, always-available electricity for our customers across the Upper Midwest for more than 50 years. Now, tax credits on the energy they generate will produce savings for our customers,' Ryan Long, president of Xcel Energy—Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, said in a news release.
'Nuclear energy is an important piece of American energy security. It helps us support economic growth in the Upper Midwest, deliver reliable and resilient electricity, and keep customers' bills as low as possible,' Long said in a release.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
23 minutes ago
- USA Today
We're creating AI that could surveil US citizens. And the government is in on it.
Tech companies' lack of transparency and accountability in developing surveillance tools that governments can use is unacceptable. President Donald Trump recently gathered CEOs for a summit about renewing the United States 'spiritually and financially.' At the top of the agenda was a closer look at 'American values' such as faith and freedom. There is cause for alarm, however. Centuries after Americans declared independence from the British monarchy, our freedom and liberty are under threat − not only from foreign governments like China, but potentially our own. America's surveillance state is spreading as the federal government collects personal data of hundreds of millions of Americans. In the age of artificial intelligence, with data collection accelerating at an unprecedented rate, our privacy has never been more vulnerable. Who is the culprit? The data collectors range from the National Security Agency to Silicon Valley's cadre of data-hungry technology companies. Add to that list a new organization: Palantir. While it is not a household name like Google or Netflix, it is soon to be a common domestic concern. The technology company's surveillance operation has exploded in recent months, raising the possibility of creating a full-fledged surveillance state. Opinion: AI knows we shouldn't trust it for everything. I know because I asked it. Since January, Palantir has received more than $113 million in federal funds, according to The New York Times, not including a $795 million Defense Department contract awarded in May. While the federal government increased data sharing across agencies (with Palantir's help), the company continues to shop its technology to the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. AI technology could be repurposed for sinister uses We are talking about technology that can be weaponized. While Palantir's current focus is to identify people in the United States illegally, tracking movements in real time, the company is also building the infrastructure that could be used for a massive surveillance state. Former Palantir employees have warned about the potential for the company's AI tools to surveil American citizens with a disregard for personal privacy. It is not so far-fetched. Palantir's AI software is used by the Israeli Defense Forces to strike targets in Gaza. It is used to assist the U.S. Defense Department in analyzing drone footage. And it has been used by the Los Angeles Police Department to forecast crime patterns. This is called 'predictive policing.' If "Minority Report"was not a horror movie before, it is now. Given the government's penchant for abusing power (see: COVID-19 censorship or the NSA spying scandal), does this not seem like an obvious move against our civil liberties? For years, the NSA engaged in the mass surveillance of Americans' telephone records, as was exposed in 2013. Between 2001 and 2007, government wiretapping − executed without warrants − affected millions of U.S. citizens. Now, the same agencies are tapping into the power of AI to expand government surveillance in once unimaginable ways. Opinion: AI is changing our world. At what point will it change our reality? Of course, the federal government can already access a wide range of our personal data, but it is often separated by agency. Washington, DC, can create exponentially more detailed profiles on all of us by sharing data with the help of Palantir's AI tools. Even when surveilling noncitizens, the government's data collection inevitably tracks individual Americans based on their own interactions with these noncitizens. The government's data collection is based on information from police departments, financial institutions and other entities, like Palantir. Big government and big tech partnership raises concerns Even if the alliance between the government and Palantir works as intended, it is a potential threat to our civil liberties. Political dissidents could become targets. Not even those with limited public personas are safe from the state's detailed profiling machine. These systems are not perfect, and neither are our leaders. What happens when AI systems fail? What happens when data collection goes haywire? Palantir is hardly alone. OpenAI recently launched OpenAI for Government, which aims to equip federal, state and local leaders with advanced AI tools. OpenAI claims to serve the 'public good' and 'bolster national security readiness,' but why would private citizens take that at face value? What does 'readiness' actually mean, in practice? At the moment, many of our elected officials do not have answers to these questions, or they are just ignoring them. The same goes for OpenAI and Palantir, which are all too comfortable amassing ever-larger federal contracts and greater market share. This lack of transparency or accountability is unacceptable. The only thing worse than the overreach of Big Government is Big Tech in bed with Big Government. For those who care about freedom and liberty, now is the time to speak up, before it is too late. Peyton Hornberger serves as communications director at The Alliance for Secure AI, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the implications of advanced artificial intelligence.
New York Times
24 minutes ago
- New York Times
As Consumers Lose Their Appetite, Food Brands Fight to Keep Wall St. Happy
For generations, Cool Whip topped pies. Tropical punch Kool-Aid was served at children's birthday parties. And an Oscar Mayer bologna sandwich was a lunchbox staple. But in recent years, the big packaged food brands that dominated American pantries and refrigerators for decades are struggling as consumers spend less on brand-name cookies, spaghetti sauce and cream cheese. The companies are grappling with a number of stressors. Shoppers, feeling pinched by higher food prices over the past two years, are cutting back or trading down to less expensive private labels. Others are eschewing highly processed foods for healthier, more natural items. And the continued rise of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are reducing cravings for sugary and salty snacks. Among the debates consuming executives in boardrooms of U.S. food companies is which brands consumers are buying and avoiding — and how large and lasting the impact of the weight-loss drugs will be, said Charlie Hadid, Morgan Stanley's head of consumer investment banking in the Americas. As growth in the packaged goods industry stalls, its stocks have lagged. While the broad S&P 500 index has gained 40 percent over the last two years, an index of food and beverage stocks has flatlined. To jump-start growth and satisfy investors, companies are starting to re-engineer some of the big deals of the past, banking on a smaller-is-better, or narrower-is-better, strategy. Source: FactSet By The New York Times Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
24 minutes ago
- New York Times
Boeing Emerges as a Winner in Trump's Trade Wars
There typically aren't many winners in a trade war, but Boeing appears to be reaping some rewards from the one started by President Trump. The aerospace company has received a steady stream of new orders as part of trade deals between the United States and other countries. These sales could be a boon for Boeing as it emerges from years of bruising crises. They also allow Mr. Trump to claim that his unconventional trade policies are helping American manufacturing. Orders for hundreds of Boeing jets have been announced in deals with Indonesia and Japan this month, as well as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar earlier in the year. 'Ever since his first term, his trade deals have generally involved these kinds of purchase agreements,' said Bruce Hirsh, a trade policy expert at Capitol Counsel, a lobbying firm in Washington that has clients in the aerospace industry. 'Our trading partners know this, so they're looking for these kinds of big-ticket items that they can offer to purchase.' Some aviation analysts are skeptical that U.S. trade negotiators had to twist arms to persuade countries to buy Boeing planes. Airlines, including those controlled by foreign governments, plan such expensive purchases carefully and over months, if not years. Moreover, airlines have few choices, since Boeing and Airbus of France are the only two suppliers of large commercial jets. Still, those experts said, it was not surprising that Mr. Trump and his aides have made a point of highlighting new Boeing orders as part of their trade deals. The company employs tens of thousands of Americans and is one of the country's top exporters. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
