Frequently Asked Questions

Xcel Energy’s Partners in Energy is available to communities in Minnesota and Colorado that are looking for resources to take their energy planning to the next level. Through a two-year commitment, we help you identify your community’s energy objectives, develop a plan, and implement strategies that incorporate your unique, local resources. To facilitate and empower contributors, we’ve assembled a team of experts in energy consulting, process and implementation coaching to help your teams throughout the process.

Partners in Energy offers flexibility, expertise and resources to develop and launch your energy planning. We supplement your local resources with our team of experts to guide you through the planning process and develop your plan document. If you’re aiming to add renewable energy, reduce electric and natural gas consumption, or lower CO2 emissions, developing a robust Energy Action Plan will provide the first step to charting your energy course. The plan will outline actionable strategies that may include promotional outreach, education, events, PR and more. We help guide the project implementation and bring tools and resources to help your community overcome implementation barriers. Community engagement is a key component, which can help community leaders deliver good news stories to stakeholders, as well as position your community as an energy-savvy, environmentally conscious trendsetter.

As part of developing the plan, your Partners in Energy team will begin by determining your baseline energy use, program offerings and program participation. In addition to working with energy data from Xcel Energy, we ask your team to share what they know about the local history of energy-related programs and offerings to develop a full profile of what your community has achieved to date. Through a series of workshops, we’ll try to provide more in depth analysis to help the team answer questions on things like program participation by market segments, geographic differences or historical patterns. Once your plan is completed, we will track and report participation to be sure we are achieving measurable results.

Ideally, you will assign a champion from your community who will help smooth the process of developing an Energy Action Plan and rolling out implementation. Our facilitators are supportive every step of the way by leading workshops and empowering the team with resources and energy expertise. Over the first six months of working together to develop your action plan, it may require up to 100 hours of time from your Partners in Energy champion. You will also need to identify a group of local participants to get involved in developing the plan. Throughout the planning and implementation, we will leverage your existing communications channels, such as your community website, social media, press media, newsletters or cable channels. Xcel Energy resources are there to support and provide tools and help throughout the process—but it is the community that owns the plan. 

There is no cost to participate in Partners in Energy—or for our resources. The amount you need to invest is driven by your needs or outreach strategies in your plan. The tactics in your energy action plan may be within your current budget, or you may identify needs for a more robust energy management program.

In addition to your community contributors, the Xcel Energy team will be at the table to provide resources, data and support during the planning and implementation. In addition, you will have access to energy planning experts and the ability to brainstorm with representatives from other communities participating in Partners in Energy concurrently. This is done through a series of webinars and “ask the expert” officehours delivered through our Exchange option.

To find out more about when additional communities can join or to download an application, visit xcelenergy.com/PartnersInEnergy. If you have specific questions or want to request a presentation email us at PartnersInEnergy@xcelenergy.com.

Once you’ve been accepted into the Partners in Energy program, Xcel Energy will organize preliminary kickoff meetings to build the framework to launch your energy action planning workshops. Anticipate six to eight weeks for preparation, and 20 to 26 weeks for development of the plan. Following the plan development, we will collaborate for 18 months to implement your strategies.