Xcel Energy 2003 Annual Report Download - page 24

40 XCEL ENERGY 2003 ANNUAL REPORT
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT
To Xcel Energy Inc.:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and consolidated statements of capitalization of Xcel Energy Inc. (a Minnesota corporation)
and subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2003 and 2002, and the related consolidated statements of operations, common stockholders’ equity
and other comprehensive income and cash flows for the three years ended December 31, 2003. These consolidated financial statements are the
responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We did
not audit the consolidated balance sheet of NRG Energy, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc.) for the year ended December 31, 2002,
or the consolidated statements of operations, stockholder’s (deficit)/equity and cash flows for the two years ended December 31, 2002 included in the
consolidated financial statements of the Company, which statements reflect total assets of $10.9 billion as of December 31, 2002 and losses from
discontinued operations net of tax of $3.5 billion for the year ended December 31, 2002, and income from discontinued operations net of tax of
$265 million for the year ended December 31, 2001. Those statements were audited by other auditors whose report has been furnished to us (which
as to 2002 expresses an unqualified opinion and includes an explanatory paragraph describing conditions that raise substantial doubt about NRG
Energy, Inc.’s ability to continue as a going concern and emphasis of a matter paragraph related to the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting
Standards (SFAS) No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets” and SFAS No. 144, “Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived
Assets” on January 1, 2002), and our opinion, insofar as it relates to the amounts included for NRG Energy, Inc. for the periods described above,
is based solely on the report of the other auditors.
We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that we
plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes
examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting
principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our
audits and the report of other auditors provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, based on our audits and the report of other auditors, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material
respects, the financial position of Xcel Energy Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2003 and 2002 and the results of their operations and their cash
flows for each of the three years ended December 31, 2003, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of
America.
As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, effective January 1, 2002, Xcel Energy Inc. and subsidiaries adopted SFAS No. 142,
“Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets,” and SFAS No. 144, “Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets.”
As discussed in Note 18 to the consolidated financial statements, effective January 1, 2003, Xcel Energy Inc. and subsidiaries adopted SFAS No. 143,
“Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations” and as discussed in Note 16, effective October 1, 2003, Derivatives Implementation Group Issue
No. C20 “Scope Exceptions: Interpretation of the Meaning of Not Clearly and Closely Related in Paragraph 10(b) Regarding Contracts with a Price
Adjustment Feature.”
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Minneapolis, Minnesota
February 27, 2004