Exhibit 99

            SPS Records Charge Related to Carolina Energy Project

      Southwestern  Public  Service  Company  (NYSE:SPS)  today reported it will
record a one-time,  after-tax charge of 25 cents per common share for the period
ended June 30, 1997, to write-off the $16.1 million  recorded  investment of its
subsidiaries  Quixx  Corporation  and  Utility  Engineering  Corporation  in the
Carolina Energy Project in Kinston, N.C.

      SPS disclosed in February that  construction  of the  waste-to-energy  CEP
project,  originally  scheduled to be completed later this year, had been halted
pending an  independent  analysis  of the  project's  viability,  and that banks
providing  debt  financing  to the  project  had  withheld  funds for  continued
construction.

      Quixx and Utility Engineering,  other equity owners, senior creditors, the
cities  and  counties  providing  waste for fuel and the  constructor  have been
unable to restructure the project on mutually  agreeable terms. The construction
contractor is demobilizing,  and the creditors have initiated  remedies provided
under the credit  agreement.  Accordingly,  SPS,  Quixx and Utility  Engineering
management  have  determined it is unlikely the project will be completed  under
present  ownership,  if at all,  and the  subsidiaries'  investments  in CEP are
unlikely to be recovered.

      Quixx's investment,  approximately $13.64 million,  represents a one-third
ownership in the facility, including a one percent general partnership interest.
UE's net investment from engineering service fees, subordinated debt and related
interest receivable equals $2.42 million.

      SPS also reported in February a one-time, after-tax charge of 25 cents per
common  share for the period  ended Dec.  31,  1996,  to write-off a $16 million
investment   of  Quixx  in  a  companion   waste-to-energy   project,   BCH,  in
Fayetteville, N.C.

      Southwestern Public Service Company primarily provides electric service to
a population of about one million people in a  52,000-square-mile  area covering
eastern and  southeastern  New Mexico,  the South Plains and Panhandle of Texas,
the Oklahoma  Panhandle and southwestern  Kansas.  Corporate  headquarters is in
Amarillo, Texas.
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For more information:
News Media: Bill Crenshaw, Corporate Communications, (806) 378-2120
Security Analysts: Jim Steinhilper, Group Manager of Finance, (303) 294-8227