The bitter cold winter helped electric and gas utilities shovel in profits from January through March.
Xcel Energy, a natural gas and electricity supplier in Minnesota and other states, reported Thursday that three-month earnings rose 10 percent over the same period a year go, exceeding Wall Street expectations.
CenterPoint Energy, which serves 3.3 million natural gas customers in six states from Texas to Minnesota, reported a 17 percent increase in operating income for its gas distribution business.
"In the past two decades we have been so skewed in the direction of mild winters," said Mark Seeley, a University of Minnesota extension climatologist. "This particular heating season has been extraordinary in its aberration. Why would we expect anything less than to see a tremendous spike in [energy] usage and profits?"
When it comes to heating, Minnesota just emerged from one of the worst seasons. Seeley said the 2013-14 winter ranks as the fourth-highest in heating degree days, a measure of building energy needs. The worst winter for heating was 1935-36.
During January through March, CenterPoint, the state's largest gas utility with 823,000 customers, reported supplying 1 billion cubic feet of gas on each of 35 days. That usually happens only about 10 days during the winter quarter, the Houston-based utility reported. One billion cubic feet is enough to supply 10,000 homes for a year.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin Energy this week reported delivering more natural gas to its 1.1 million customers in the first quarter than during any other quarter in history, breaking the 2008 first-quarter record by 11 percent.
Alliant Energy of Madison, Wis., which has more than 1.4 million customers in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, said Thursday that extremely cold temperatures boosted electric and gas sales, adding $22 million to first-quarter margins.