**Exhibit 99.01**

 

## **NSP-MINNESOTACAUTIONARY FACTORS**

## ** **

The PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act provides a “safe harbor” for forward-lookingstatements to encourage such disclosures without the threat of litigation,providing those statements are identified as forward-looking and areaccompanied by meaningful, cautionary statements identifying important factorsthat could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projectedin the statement. Forward-looking statements are made in written documents andoral presentations of NSP-Minnesota. These statements are based on management’sbeliefs as well as assumptions and information currently available tomanagement. When used in NSP-Minnesota’s documents or oral presentations, thewords “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “projected,” objective,” “outlook,” “forecast,”“possible,” “potential” and similar expressions are intended to identifyforward-looking statements. In addition to any assumptions and other factorsreferred to specifically in connection with such forward-looking statements,factors that could cause NSP-Minnesota’s actual results to differ materiallyfrom those contemplated in any forward-looking statements include, amongothers, the following:

 

•       Economic conditions, including their impact on capital expenditures andthe ability of NSP-Minnesota to obtain financing on favorable terms, inflationrates and monetary fluctuations;

 

•       Business conditions in the energy business;

 

•       Trade, monetary, fiscal, taxation and environmental policies ofgovernments, agencies and similar organizations in geographic areas whereNSP-Minnesota has a financial interest;

 

•       Customer business conditions, including demand for their products orservices and supply of labor and materials used in creating their products andservices;

 

•       Financial or regulatory accounting principles or policies imposed bythe Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC, the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission and similar entities with regulatory oversight;

 

•       Availability or cost of capital such as changes in: interest rates;market perceptions of the utility industry, NSP-Minnesota; or security ratings;

 

•       Factors affecting utility and nonutility operations such as unusualweather conditions; catastrophic weather-related damage; unscheduled generationoutages, maintenance or repairs; unanticipated changes to fossil fuel, nuclearfuel or natural gas supply costs or availability due to higher demand,shortages, transportation problems or other developments; nuclear orenvironmental incidents; or electric transmission or natural gas pipelineconstraints;

 

•       Employee workforce factors, including loss or retirement of keyexecutives, collective bargaining agreements with union employees, or workstoppages;

 

•       Increased competition in the utility industry or additional competitionin the markets served by NSP-Minnesota;

 

•       State, federal and foreign legislative and regulatory initiatives thataffect cost and investment recovery, have an impact on rate structures andaffect the speed and degree to which competition enters the electric andnatural gas markets; industry restructuring initiatives; transmission systemoperation and/or administration initiatives; recovery of investments made undertraditional regulation; nature of competitors entering the industry; retailwheeling; a new pricing structure; and former customers entering the generationmarket;

 

•       Rate-setting policies or procedures of regulatory entities, includingenvironmental externalities, which are values established by regulatorsassigning environmental costs to each method of electricity generation whenevaluating generation resource options;

 

•       Nuclear regulatory policies and procedures, including operatingregulations and spent nuclear fuel storage;

 

•       Social attitudes regarding the utility and power industries;

 

•       Risks associated with the California power market;

 

•       Cost and other effects of legal and administrative proceedings,settlements, investigations and claims;

 

•       Technological developments that result in competitive disadvantages andcreate the potential for impairment of existing assets;

 

•       Significant slowdown in growth or decline in the U.S. economy, delay ingrowth or recovery of the U.S. economy or increased cost for insurancepremiums, security and other items as a consequence of the Sept. 11, 2001terrorist attacks;

 

•       Risks associated with implementation of new technologies; and

 

•       Other business or investment considerations that may be disclosed fromtime to time in NSP-Minnesota’s SEC filings or in other publicly disseminatedwritten documents.

 

NSP-Minnesota undertakes noobligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whetheras a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The foregoingreview of factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

 

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