Xcel Energy 2014 Annual Report Download - page 95

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of
Xcel Energy Inc.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Xcel Energy Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December
31, 2014, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control
over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the
accompanying Management Report on Internal Controls over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the
Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.
We conducted our audit 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 effective internal control over
financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over
financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of
internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances.
We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s principal
executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by the company’s board of directors,
management, and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control
over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail,
accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that
transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management
and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized
acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper
management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Also, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting to future periods are subject to
the risk that the controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies
or procedures may deteriorate.
In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31,
2014, based on the criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) the
consolidated financial statements and financial statement schedules as of and for the year ended December 31, 2014 of the Company
and our report dated February 20, 2015 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial statement
schedules.
/s/ DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Minneapolis, Minnesota
February 20, 2015