Exhibit 10.01

                    ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF AMENDMENT TO TERMS
                       AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT OF
                               JAMES J. HOWARD


      WHEREAS, Northern States Power Company, a Minnesota corporation ("NSP")
and James J. Howard ("Howard") are parties to an agreement, effective February
1, 1987, relating to the employment of Howard by NSP ("Agreement"); and

      WHEREAS, on August 24, 1994, the Corporate Management Committee
("Committee") of NSP's Board of Directors ("Board") concluded that the manner
in which Howard's pension benefits under the Agreement coordinate with the
benefits he earned from Ameritech tends to discourage Howard from working past
age 60; and

      WHEREAS, the Committee recommended to the Board that it amend Howard's
contract to eliminate this disincentive to Howard's continued employment and
bring the agreement more in line with the parties' original intention; and

      WHEREAS, the Board approved the amendment proposed by the Committee; and

      WHEREAS, a written acknowledgement of the Board's action on August 24,
1994, is deemed necessary and advisable:

      NOW, THEREFORE, Howard and the undersigned officer of NSP acknowledge
that the Board, with Howard's consent, has amended the final sentence of
Paragraph 13 of the Agreement to read as follows:

      "If Howard works past age 60, NSP will determine his combined
      benefits from the Northern States Power Company Pension Plan and
      supplemental NSP payments, as though he had completed 30 years of
      service; provided, however, that those combined benefits shall be
      reduced by the excess, if any, of the annual retirement benefits
      of $151,296 he earned from Ameritech over the annual retirement
      benefit that the Pension Plan's actuaries reasonably estimate is
      equivalent to the accumulated value, at the time Howard's pension
      benefit payments begin, of the monthly benefit payments he would
      have received prior to that time if monthly benefit payments had
      commenced at the end of the month following the month he attained
      age 60."

      IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this acknowledgement this
12th day of May, 1995.


                                    NORTHERN STATES POWER COMPANY



(James J. Howard)                   By    (Cynthia L. Lesher)
James J. Howard                           Cynthia L. Lesher
                                          Vice President, Human Resources