The Public Utilities Commission ordered Xcel Energy to study the cost of new pollution control equipment at two of its coal-burning units in Sherburne County and compare that with the cost of replacing them with a cleaner alternative. Environmental groups consider the order a victory, but Xcel says it was planning something similar. The study is due next summer.

Xcel Energy's second-quarter earnings increased 16 percent despite a 7 percent drop in revenue, the Minneapolis-based utility reported Thursday. Xcel said earnings increased in part due to rate increases and warmer-than-normal weather across Xcel's territory, which spans eight western and Midwestern states including Minnesota.

A solar energy program that has provided rebates to more than 500 Xcel Energy customers in Minnesota since 2010 will be phased out starting in 2013. The Minneapolis-based company said its Solar Rewards program met its goal of adding six megawatts of solar-powered electricity to its system, and now it wants to devote more of its efforts to energy conservation.

A Twin Cities power company is proposing the state's first pilot program specifically designed for charging electric cars. Dakota Electric Association, a utility co-op that serves customers in Dakota, Goodhue, Scott and Rice counties, has come up with a pricing plan tailored for in-home charging stations that offers low electric rates at night when the power demand is low.

Officials at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant are investigating what it calls an "unusual event" after a piece of security equipment failed Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release. Xcel Energy said no radioactive material was released during the incident and there is no danger to the public or its workers.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved the rate increase, but it's actually less than half what the Minneapolis-based utility originally requested. The Star Tribune reports the average residential customer will get a $30 refund because they've already been paying a higher interim rate.