EXHIBIT 99(a)

July 24, 2000

     DENVER -- Southwestern Public Service Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of
New Century Energies (NYSE: NCE), today announced that it has commenced a fixed
spread tender offer to purchase for cash the remaining $294,917,000 total
principal amount of five series of Southwestern Public Service's First Mortgage
Bonds.

     Under the terms of the offer, SPS will purchase the remaining bonds of each
series at a price determined by the yield to maturity, at the time of tender, of
the Referenced U.S. Treasury Note plus a Fixed Spread, as follows:

o    SPS $130,200,000 Note 7.25% due 7/15/04 Referenced U.S. Treasury Note:
     5.25% due 5/15/04; Fixed Spread: 25 basis points

o    SPS $49,000,000 Note 6.50% due 3/1/06 Referenced U.S. Treasury Note: 5.625%
     due 2/15/06; Fixed Spread: 40 basis points

o    SPS $25,950,000 Note 8.25% due 7/15/22; Callable beginning on 7/15/02
     Reference U.S. Treasury Note: 6.25% due 6/30/02; Fixed Spread: 35 basis
     points

o    SPS $52,000,000 Note 8.20% due 12/1/22; Callable beginning on 12/1/02
     Referenced U.S. Treasury Note: 5.75% due 11/30/02; Fixed Spread: 35 basis
     points

o    SPS $37,767,000 Note 8.50% due 2/15/25; Callable beginning on 2/15/05
     Referenced U.S. Treasury Note: 7.50% due 2/15/05; Fixed Spread: 50 basis
     points

     All holders of bonds who tender will received a price which is calculated
using the price of the Referenced U.S. Treasury Note specific to each series at
the time of tender plus the fixed spread specific to each series, as outlined
above. In addition to this price per bond, all accrued and unpaid interest up to
(but excluding) the settlement date will be paid to the bondholder. The
settlement will be three business days after the date of tender or if the holder
elects, August 9, 2000.



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     The Fixed Spread tender offer will remain open for 10 business days and
will expire at 5 p.m. New York City time, on August 4, 2000, unless it is
extended or terminated earlier. SPS will use currently available funds to
purchase the bonds.

     This tender offer is being implemented in order to restructure SPS in
connection with the deregulation of the electric industry in the states of Texas
and New Mexico. SPS currently intends that all bonds which are not tendered or
otherwise acquired by SPS will be defeased by the end of 2000. Thereafter, all
obligations of SPS under its Indenture, which include SPS's obligations under
its First Mortgage Bonds, will be discharged.

     Lehman Brothers will act as Dealer Manager for the tender offer. The
Information Agent is D.F. King & Co.

NCE

     New Century Energies has operating revenues of more than $3.6 billion and
serves approximately 1.6 million electricity customers and more than a million
natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Kansas and
Oklahoma. It is in the process of merging with Minneapolis-based Northern States
Power Co., which should be completed in the third quarter of this year. The
merged company will be called Xcel Energy, Inc.

     Through its subsidiaries, NCE provided a full range of energy services
including the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, natural
gas transportation and distribution, energy trading and marketing, engineering
services and non-utility power generation. The company also owns a 50 percent
interest in Yorkshire Electricity, which serves more than two million customers
in a northeast portion of the United Kingdom.