Terms, Conditions, and Policies for the Use of Website and Web Services

Welcome. You are viewing the Website of Xcel Energy Corporation and its affiliated companies. These terms, conditions, and policies, and those referred to below, govern your use of this Website and the Web Services (hereinafter defined) provided through this Website. Please read them carefully. Your use of this Website and any of the Web Services constitutes your agreement to abide and be bound by these terms, conditions, and policies (herein collectively referred to as the "Agreement"). The Agreement also extends to any email sent by a user to Xcel Energy at any time arising out of transactions involving this Website or the Web Services. You must comply with the Agreement and any applicable user information provided by or to you in connection with each use of this Website and any Web Services provided through this Website. Any use of this Website or the Web Services contrary to the Agreement, as in effect at the time of such use, is unauthorized and prohibited. Xcel Energy reserves the right, in its sole discretion, at any time, for any reason, and without prior notice to any user, to revise the terms, conditions, and policies applicable to the use of this Website. Accordingly, users are advised to review this Agreement each time they use this Website or the Web Services.

Throughout the Agreement, the words "user," "you," "your," and "yours" refer to any person or entity using this Website or the Web Services, and the words "Xcel Energy," "we," "us," and "ours" refer to Xcel Energy Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliated companies, as well as any vendor that Xcel Energy, in our sole discretion, may use to support this Website or provide Web Services. The term "Website" refers to this Xcel Energy website, and the term "Web Services" refers to any and all services of any kind available through this Website, including but not limited to account access services, paperless bill delivery services, and one-time and repetitive bill payment services.

1. XCEL ENERGY AND AFFILIATES

a) Xcel Energy Corporation is a holding company for individual public utility companies, among other affiliates. Each of these public utility companies and other affiliates is a separate and distinct legal entity. Each public utility subsidiary of Xcel Energy Corporation has its own service territory, federal and/or state utility regulatory regime(s), rate structure(s), and customers. No such public utility subsidiary or other affiliate shall be liable for the obligations or entitled to the benefits of any other public utility subsidiary or affiliate, except as may be expressly provided by duly authorized and executed, enforceable written agreement.

b) Solely for reasons of convenience, the term "Xcel Energy" is used to refer individually and collectively to Xcel Energy Corporation and its affiliates, including but not limited to the public utility companies named above.

2. OTHER TERMS, CONDITIONS, AND POLICIES

In addition to this Agreement, there are other terms, conditions, and policies applicable to the utilization of particular Web Services that are now provided or will in the future be provided, such as paper-free billing; online account access; one-time online bill payment; recurring bill payments; the establishment, change or termination of utility services; and changes of customer account profile information. In the event of a conflict between this Agreement and any such other terms, conditions, and policies, this Agreement shall govern. Access to such other terms, conditions, and policies is provided in connection with accessing particular Web Services. A user accessing this Website or using such other Web Services shall be deemed to have agreed to and be bound by such other terms, conditions, and policies (including the Privacy Policy, available by clicking here) in addition to this Agreement.

3. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS; SUBMISSIONS; LAWFUL USE

a) This Website and the Web Services are proprietary to Xcel Energy. Except as otherwise indicated, all information, text, images, logos, designs, graphics, photos, sounds, presentation, layouts, icons, documentation, forms, and other materials (herein referred to as "Content") on this Website or provided by Xcel Energy for use in connection with the Web Services accessed through this Website are the subject of copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and/or intellectual property or proprietary rights held by or licensed to Xcel Energy, including but not limited to the "Xcel Energy" name and its associated logo. Content of this Website may not be published, copied, distributed, transmitted, modified, exploited, or used in the creation of derivative works, in any form or by or to any entity (other than Xcel Energy) for any purpose without the prior written consent of Xcel Energy; provided, however, that users of this Website may download Content in connection with the ordinary utilization of the Website and/or the Web Services for use by a single individual using a standard Web browser, so long as such Content is not modified, altered, deleted, retransmitted, published, or otherwise changed and copyright, trademark and/or service mark, and other proprietary notices are not removed.

b) Any information, suggestion, idea, graphic, remark, or other submission made by a user to Xcel Energy through this Website or in connection with the accessing of the Web Services, whether submitted by email or otherwise, shall become the exclusive property of Xcel Energy and shall not be deemed to be confidential except as provided by Xcel Energy's Privacy Policy. Xcel Energy shall be entitled to use any such submission and any derivative works created therefrom, and any related concepts, ideas, techniques, or know-how for any lawful purpose without any obligation to any user submitting the same and without any other restriction, permission, or compensation. Each user making any such submission thereby acknowledges the originality of such submission and accepts responsibility for its accuracy, completeness, appropriateness, and legality.

c) This Website and the Web Services are provided only for lawful use. Any use of this Website or the Web Services for any purpose contrary to applicable law is strictly prohibited.

4. SECURITY AND PRIVACY

a) Information transmitted over the Internet and stored on computers connected to the Internet can never be perfectly private or secure. Xcel Energy shall endeavor to maintain the security and privacy of the information it receives in accordance with Xcel Energy's Privacy Policy, which you can access by clicking here.

b) Each user shall be responsible for the use, security, and safeguarding of such user's identification, password, Xcel Energy account information, and other confidential information. Xcel Energy shall have no responsibility or liability for damages resulting from the theft or unauthorized use of a user's identification, password, Xcel Energy account information or other confidential information, including but not limited to the user's tax identification number, address, telephone number, credit card number, or bank account number.

5. EQUIPMENT AND NETWORK SERVICES

Each user is responsible for supplying and maintaining all hardware, software, access to networks, and communications and other equipment necessary for connectivity to gain access to this Website and the Web Services. Xcel Energy shall have no responsibility whatsoever with respect to the foregoing.

6. MONITORING

Xcel Energy retains the right, exercisable in its sole discretion, at any time and from time to time, to monitor any and all activities on this Website or in connection with the Web Services. Xcel Energy further reserves the right, without the consent of or liability to any user or third party, to record, screen, edit, curtail, or remove any content on this Website at any time and for any reason, including because it believes such content to be harmful, harassing, abusive, offensive, or in violation of this Agreement or any other terms, conditions, and policies applicable to this Website or the Web Services. Xcel Energy shall have no liability to any user or third party for the performance or non-performance of monitoring or other actions taken pursuant to this Agreement.

7. EMAIL

In connection with activities conducted on this Website and with respect to Web Services Xcel Energy will attempt to send you courtesy email confirmations or other email with important information relating to your account. Delivery of email may be affected by circumstances beyond the control of Xcel Energy, including but not limited to incorrect email addresses provided by users, changed email addresses as to which Xcel Energy has not been notified, personal and Internet spam filters, size filters, timing of the delivery of emails, unavailability of emails, or other network problems. Xcel Energy assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, missed delivery, or failure of emails due to the foregoing or the failure to store data, failure of personalized settings by users or email service providers, or any other cause. Users have the responsibility to make every effort to allow delivery of email sent by Xcel Energy. Xcel Energy has no responsibility for damages or loss due to emails that are not received by users for any reason. Each user is responsible for reading and responding in a timely and appropriate manner to emails sent by Xcel Energy.

8. EXCLUSION OF WARRANTIES

a) THIS WEBSITE, THE WEB SERVICES, AND ANY RELATED DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED "AS IS," WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

b) The Content of this Website may contain technical, typographical, or other errors, inaccuracies, or omissions. Xcel Energy reserves the right, in its sole discretion, at any time, and for any reason, to make corrections, revisions, and changes to this Website or the Web Services, and/or to suspend or terminate the availability of this Website or the Web Services to any or all users, without prior notice. Xcel Energy makes no warranty and shall have no responsibility to any user with respect to any such error, inaccuracy, omission, correction, revision, change, suspension, or termination.

c) Xcel Energy makes no warranty that this Website or websites accessible through this Website are free of destructive computer code such as viruses, worms, trojan horses, and the like. Users should take their own precautions with respect to such code.

d) Xcel Energy shall have no responsibility and makes no representation, warranty, or endorsement with respect to any other website that a user may access from this Website or in connection with any Web Service. Access to any such other website(s) is provided solely as a convenience to users. Any such other website is independent of this Website, and Xcel Energy has no control over the content of any such other website. Users accessing other websites linked to this Website do so entirely at their own risk, and are subject to such terms and conditions as are imposed by such other linked websites.

9. WEBSITE UNAVAILABILITY; FAILURE OF ONLINE TRANSACTIONS

The unavailability of this Website or any Web Services, or the failure of any Web Service or online transaction for any reason, shall not relieve any utility customer or user from, or excuse the delay in the payment or performance of, any obligation owed to Xcel Energy for or in connection with utility services that have been rendered or otherwise.

10. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

IN NO EVENT WILL XCEL ENERGY BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR OTHER DAMAGES FOR ANY USE OF THIS WEBSITE, THE WEB SERVICES, OR ANY LINKED WEBSITE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR DATA ON XCEL ENERGY'S OR ANY USER'S COMPUTER HARDWARE OR INFORMATION HANDLING SYSTEMS, OR OTHERWISE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER XCEL ENERGY HAS BEEN ADVISED OR IS AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. XCEL ENERGY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TECHNICAL, HARDWARE, OR SOFTWARE FAILURES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, OR FOR FAILED, INCOMPLETE, DISTORTED, OR DELAYED DATA TRANSMISSIONS, OR EQUIPMENT INCOMPATIBILITIES, IN RELATION TO ANY USE OF THIS WEBSITE OR THE WEB SERVICES. XCEL ENERGY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGE RESULTING FROM DESTRUCTIVE COMPUTER CODE SUCH AS VIRUSES, WORMS, TROJAN HORSES, AND THE LIKE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL XCEL ENERGY BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM THE USE OF INFORMATION, INTERACTIVE FORMS, CONTENT, OR COMPUTER CODE ON THIS WEBSITE OR ANY WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THIS WEBSITE, OR RELATED TO THE WEB SERVICES.

11. WAIVERS

Xcel Energy will not be deemed to have waived any of the terms of this Agreement or any of its other terms, conditions, or policies with respect to this Website or the Web Services, or any of its rights with respect to the foregoing, unless the waiver is in a written document expressly setting forth the nature and extent of the waiver, executed by a representative of Xcel Energy duly authorized to execute and deliver the same. No delay or omission on the part of Xcel Energy in enforcing this Agreement or any such other terms, conditions, or policies shall impair its current or future exercise of its rights and remedies thereunder or be construed as a waiver of any provision of this Agreement or any such other terms, conditions, or policies. No partial or single exercise of any right or remedy available to Xcel Energy under this Agreement or any such other terms, conditions, or policies shall preclude the full availability to Xcel Energy of such right or remedy.

12. ASSIGNMENT

No user may assign to any other person or entity its rights or obligations under this Agreement or under any other terms, conditions, or policies with respect to this Website or the Web Services without the express written consent of Xcel Energy. Xcel Energy, in its sole discretion, may freely assign this Agreement or its rights and obligations hereunder or under any other terms, conditions, or policies with respect to this Website or the Web Services, in whole or in part, to any third party or parties without the consent of or notice to any user

13. APPLICABLE LAWS

This Website and the Agreement are governed by the laws of the State of Arkansas, excluding its conflicts of laws principles, and, where and to the extent applicable, by federal law. Terms, conditions, and policies applicable to the provision of particular Web Services by specific Xcel Energy utility subsidiaries are governed by the laws of the state in which the relevant Xcel Energy public utility affiliate provides utility services, regardless of where a particular user is located or resides at the time the user obtains utility services, accesses the Website, or makes use of the Web Services. Xcel Energy does not represent that the materials on its Website or in the Web Services may be used outside of the United States. Access to the Website and use of the Web Services may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. Users who access this Website or use the Web Services from outside the United States do so at their own risk, and are responsible for compliance with the laws of the jurisdiction from which the Website is accessed or the Web Services are used.

14. CAPTIONS

Captions and titles in this Agreement and in any other terms, conditions, or policies with respect to this Website or the Web Services are for convenience only and are not to be construed to affect the meaning or affect this Agreement or any such other terms, conditions, or policies.

15. SEVERABILITY

If any provision of this Agreement or of any other terms, conditions, or policies with respect to this Website or the Web Services is determined to be void or invalid as a matter of law, the remaining provisions of this Agreement and of any such other terms, conditions, and policies shall not be affected thereby and shall remain in full force and effect.