According to Xcel Energy, we're just too efficient ("Xcel asks for 10% rate increase," Nov. 3). We're too smart and too concerned about our energy usage.

My family recently spent $500 on energy-efficient LED lighting for our house. We funnel sunlight through reflective tubes in our roof. We installed highly efficient windows to keep our air conditioning bills down in the summer. We use natural gas. Etcetera.

If officials give Xcel the hike it's looking for, all the political speeches, environmental saber rattling and goals for energy independence will be a farce. This hike is a ploy straight from Mr. Smithers' boardroom, and the fact that Xcel is so clueless to the irony is astounding, not too mention absurd ... insulting ... there are so many adjectives; who can choose just one? Mine would be "hubris."

Deny Xcel. It must shut down plants, fire executives, disappoint stockholders and, yes, lay off employees. No job is sacred if it is bankrolled by waste. If not, I will install stadium lights in my back yard, remove my snow with a hair dryer and drive a 1982 Pontiac just because I like the color.

Then I will sink our savings in Xcel stock. At least I can live it up while there is still coal in the ground.


STEVE STRATMAN, MINNEAPOLIS