News

The Board of Directors of WEC Energy Group has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.8925 cents per share on the company's common stock.

The dividend is payable December 1, 2025, to stockholders of record on November 14, 2025. This marks the 333^rd consecutive quarter — dating back to 1942 — that the company will have paid a dividend to its stockholders.

The Board of Directors of MGE Energy has declared the regular quarterly dividend of $0.4750 per share on the outstanding shares of the company's common stock, payable December 15, 2025, to shareholders of record at the close of business December 1, 2025.

MGE Energy has increased its dividend annually for the past 50 years and has paid cash dividends for more than 110 years.

Workers at Xcel Energy’s Prairie Island Minnesota Nuclear Plant have completed a weeks-long refueling and maintenance effort, allowing the facility to continue providing reliable, carbon-free energy for more than one million customers throughout the Upper Midwest and remain an economic engine for the region.

During the refueling, nearly 500 specialists joined the plant’s full-time workforce. The work helped set up the plant for a future extension of its operations, which will play an important part in achieving Minnesota’s clean energy goals.

“Nuclear energy is essential to achieving Minnesota’s vision to power communities with 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040,” according to Ryan Long, President, Xcel Energy – Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. “Our continued investment in nuclear ensures we can provide reliable, always-available clean energy to customers across the Upper Midwest for many years to come.”

Refueling happens every two years for each of the two units at Prairie Island. While Prairie Island’s Unit 2 is out of service, refueling and plant maintenance will improve equipment and plant reliability and help ensure that the plant continues to provide safe, clean and reliable power to the region. During this outage, Unit 1 will continue operations to provide electricity to customers.

Together, Prairie Island and Xcel Energy’s nuclear plants at Monticello provide 23 percent of the total electricity that the company’s customers use in the Upper Midwest.

Alliant Energy has announced the successful integration of its first 100-megawatt Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).  Placed next to the company’s 200-MW solar project in Grant County, the newly operational battery captures and stores excess energy generated by solar and other resources, then releases the energy to the grid, as needed.  
 
“Energy storage systems, like this one, complement our existing generation resources and serve as an incredibly important step toward creating a more intelligent and resilient grid,” according to David de Leon, President of Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin energy company. “The combination of BESS and solar is a critical part of our balanced energy portfolio. Collectively, they offer enormous potential, adding value and flexibility, while ensuring the availability of reliable and cost-effective energy for our customers.” 
 
When demand is low, excess electricity is stored by the battery and then released when needed. The BESS system in the Town of Potosi within Grant County can power over 100,000 homes for up to four hours on a single charge.

With battery technology advancing by leaps and bounds, energy storage installations are escalating and setting new records in the United States – and saving customers money. A recent analysis showed releasing stored energy when the grid needs it most saved Texans an estimated $750 million. Similarly, Alliant Energy customers could expect savings through avoided costs as additional BESS projects become operational. 
 
Energy storage infrastructure is a newer part of Alliant Energy's strategy and a key part of bolstering their investments in renewable energy. Battery storage positions Alliant Energy to meet demand, reduce the need for traditional power grid updates, and ensures preparedness for outages and severe weather.

Wind and solar power are well-positioned to quickly respond to the increasing load data centers are putting on Wisconsin’s electrical grid, a renewable energy expert argues.

Wisconsin has become a hotbed of data center activity over the past few years, underscored by Microsoft’s more than $7 billion in investments in the southeastern region of the state. Increasing demand on the electrical grid is normal, but data centers are only adding to that demand. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory predicts data center electricity consumption will grow from 176 terawatt hours in 2023 to between 325 and 580 terawatt hours in 2028, which would represent 6.7 percent to 12.0 percent of annual U.S. electrical consumption.

David Neely, EDP Renewables’ Senior Director of Development for the central region, said wind and solar power is better positioned than other power generation sources to quickly respond to those demands.

“If you just think simple supply and demand, we do support, kind of an all-in approach for what these utilities can get online. It’s what they need to get online, because there’s a rush to do capacity,” he said. “Renewables is a big, important factor in that.”

Some wind and solar projects can be built and come online in as little as a year, Neely said. That’s compared to roughly four years for traditional natural gas and coal-powered plants, according to International Energy Association data. The same IEA data also shows roughly two-and-a-half years to bring renewable projects online, though. 

Wisconsin’s goal to have all electricity consumed be 100 percent carbon-free by 2050 is also an attraction for both data center and renewable investment, Neely said.

Alliant Energy announces a partnership with HomeServe, a leading home solutions provider, to make home repair plans available to customers in Iowa and Wisconsin. This optional program is designed to ease the burden of unexpected home repairs, offering peace of mind and financial relief for homeowners.

“Unexpected home repairs can be a big disruption to daily routines and a financial hardship for many homeowners, creating stress and unexpected work,” said Aimee Davis, VP of Communications, Marketing & Customer Operations at Alliant Energy. “Through our partnership with HomeServe, our customers will benefit from a cost-effective solution that helps them safeguard their homes. Guided by our purpose driven strategy, this initiative underscores our dedication to serving our customers."

The optional repair plans offered by HomeServe cover repairs to customer-owned natural gas lines and electrical equipment that connect their homes to Alliant Energy’s systems. The plans cover repairs when equipment fails or is damaged from normal wear and tear.

A management program aimed at controlling aquatic invasive plants and improving fish habitat has gotten underway on the Chippewa Flowage. As a result, local residents and property owners will begin to notice a slow, but significant, change in water levels.

Based on the recommendation of the Chippewa Flowage Partner group, Xcel Energy began a drawdown of the flowage to aid in the reduction of the invasive Eurasian Water Milfoil. The recommendation to conduct the drawdown this fall was made based on aquatic plant surveys and on-water observations of resource conditions in the flowage, specifically an over-abundance of aquatic invasive species and the potential fisheries benefits received.

The fall drawdown will bring the level of the reservoir down to about 1,309 feet by mid-November. The 15,300-acre reservoir currently has an elevation of 1,310.56 feet above sea level. It is considered full at 1,313.0. Following ice up, the drawdown will resume through early March when the water level will be about 1,305 feet above sea level. If minimal snow is received during the winter months, the drawdown depth will likely be minimized due to concerns with refilling in the spring. If heavy snowfall is received during the winter months, a deeper drawdown may occur. During spring runoff, the water level will gradually be restored to normal elevation. Precipitation and inflow from tributary rivers and streams will determine how quickly this happens.

Xcel Energy Inc. has reported 2025 third quarter GAAP earnings of $524 million, or $0.88 per share, compared with $682 million, or $1.21 per share in the same period in 2024 and ongoing earnings of $737 million, or $1.24 per share compared with $707 million or $1.25 per share in the same period in 2024.
Third quarter ongoing earnings reflect higher depreciation, interest charges and O&M expenses partially offset by increased recovery of infrastructure investments.
“Today Xcel Energy unveiled our updated five-year infrastructure investment plan to serve increased energy demand from our communities, continue progress towards carbon reduction goals for our electric system and make needed investments to strengthen our transmission and distribution systems,” said Bob Frenzel, chairman, president and CEO of Xcel Energy.

See entire article from Xcel Energy on their website here:

https://investors.xcelenergy.com/news-events/news-releases/news-details/2025/Xcel-Energy-Third-Quarter-2025-Earnings-Report/default.aspx

WEC Energy Group has reported third-quarter profits of $271.6 million. The company  had a net income of $0.83 per share. The company posted revenues of $2.1 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. WEC Energy expects full-year earnings in the range of $5.17 to $5.27 per share.

The 45th Annual Meeting of Members was held at The Cove of Lake Geneva followed by a historic boat tour aboard The Lady of the Lake, the flagship boat of the Lake Geneva Cruise Line.

Notably, at this year’s business meeting, two current board members chose to not seek re-election, stepping down off the board, and three new nominees to the board were voted in. Chair of the nomination committee, Don Reck, stepped down after serving on the board for six years, and Lynne English after serving two years. Mr. Reck’s final official business in his role as nomination committee chair was to bring three new board members into service by a vote of the membership. Robert Bartlett, formerly Director of Community Affairs at Alliant Energy, Andrew (Andy) Hesselbach, a recently retired former Senior Vice President with WEC Energy Group, and Scott Patulsky, who served as We-Energies Vice President of Fossil Operations among many other engineering leadership positions, were all voted onto the board of directors.

A panel of company lobbyists updated the crowd on the latest developments, lamenting the current political polarization that has made finding consensus on important issues extremely difficult.

Keynote speaker Bert Garvin, Vice President, External Affairs at WEC Energy Group, reviewed his company’s current and future plans. He told members the company expects EPS future growth of between 6.5 and 8 percent. Many questions concerned the proposed data centers and their potential impacts on customers. He said the company expects to deliver the best risk-adjusted returns in the industry. The utilities are in agreement that the new data centers are a positive generation driver, the costs of which will not be passed along to the consumer. The data center will employ environmentally conscious technology which will minimize any environmental impact. Please see the “WEC Energy Group Preparing for Additional 1800 MW...” article at the end of this newsletter for more information.

Following the meeting, members were treated to a boat tour of Lake Geneva.