Xcel Energy 2004 Annual Report Download - page 41

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Xcel Energy Annual Report 2004
39
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Board of Directors and Stockholders of 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, 2004 and 2003, and the related consolidated statements of operations, common
stockholders’ equity and other comprehensive income (loss) and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2004. 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 statements of operations, stockholders (deficit) equity and cash flows of NRG
Energy, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc.) included in the consolidated financial statements of the Company, which statements reflect
losses from discontinued operations net of tax of $3.5 billion for the year ended December 31, 2002. Such financial 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 our opinion, insofar as it relates to the
amounts included for NRG Energy, Inc. for the period described above, is based solely on the report of such other auditors.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require
that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatements. 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 provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, based on our audits and the report of other auditors, such consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the
financial position of Xcel Energy Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2004 and 2003, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for
each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2004, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of
America.
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the effectiveness of
the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004, based on the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated
Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated March 3, 2005 expressed an
unqualified opinion on management’s assessment of the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting and an unqualified
opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
March 3, 2005