MINNEAPOLIS — Xcel Energy expects to raise its electric rates in Minnesota about 6 percent under the two-year hike recently approved by state regulators.

The state Public Utilities Commission has ordered a study of how the increase should be spread among its 1 million residential and businesses customers. The increase will generate $168 million for Xcel, but it is far less than what the Minneapolis utility company originally requested.

It’s 42 percent less than its first two-year rate hike request and 24 percent less than a revised request made in February. The Star Tribune reports Xcel reiterated its 2015 earnings guidance of $2 to $2.15 a share.