Robert J. Hix Joins Xcel Energy

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 2004--Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) announced today that it has hired Robert J. Hix, former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), as its director for regulatory and strategic analysis.

Hix will report to Fred Stoffel, Xcel Energy vice president for policy development. Hix previously worked for Public Service Co. of Colorado, now Xcel Energy, from September 1971 to November 1983 in the electric system planning, electric distribution engineering, and rates and regulatory areas.

“Bob's wealth of experience and knowledge in the regulatory arena will be of great benefit to Xcel Energy. He is intimately familiar with Colorado electric and natural gas issues”

"Bob's wealth of experience and knowledge in the regulatory arena will be of great benefit to Xcel Energy. He is intimately familiar with Colorado electric and natural gas issues," Stoffel said.

Hix currently is director of the Denver office of LaCapra Associates in the areas of ratemaking and utility planning, distributed generation, renewable energy public policy and energy efficiency. At the CPUC, where he was chairman for five years and a commissioner for two additional years, he regulated electric and natural gas utilities, as well as ground transportation, intrastate railroad, water, telecommunications and steam utility companies operating in the state of Colorado.

Also, Hix worked for the Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel as a senior engineering analyst from 1984 to 1994. He also worked as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in 1984 in Fiji.

Hix was a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Committee on Electricity, Committee on Gas, Committee on International Relations, and Subcommittee on Strategic Issues. He also has been a member of the Advisory Council to the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Research Institute and the Planning Committee of the North American Electric Reliability Council. In 2003, he was named to the Board of Trustees of the Colorado Energy Science Center.