AELP’s letter urges the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MN PUC) to reverse its decision letting Xcel raise its authorized return on equity (ROE) from 9.25% to 9.6%, which will cost Minnesotans an estimated $34 million per year, arguing the number came not from the extensive evidentiary record but from an eleventh-hour deal between Xcel and an industry-funded group two days before the final hearing. It calls on the MN PUC to instead adopt the 8.96% ROE recommended by one of the intervenors in the proceeding since that was the most rigorously supported figure in the record, or at minimum hold the line at the existing 9.25%, rather than hand Xcel a windfall no witness actually supported. The letter cites to evidence from the record that Xcel doesn’t need the extra return (e.g., record earnings, all-time-high stock price) while Minnesotans are increasingly unable to pay their bills (record disconnections, doubled arrears, etc.).