Greg Jaunich, a longtime Minnesota wind-power entrepreneur, pleaded guilty Tuesday to mail fraud in connection with federal charges that he bilked Xcel Energy of up to $400,000 with false meter readings from a couple of mostly inactive turbines.
Jaunich's plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson. Jaunich, 47, who will be sentenced by Magnuson at a later date, faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Jaunich was the manager of Northern Alternative Energy-Shaokatan Power Partners, one of numerous projects he owned or ran through several entities in Lincoln County in the blustery southwest corner of Minnesota.
On Sept. 25, 2003, Jaunich received from a Shaokatan employee meter readings for power produced by Shaokatan's wind turbines of 13,800 kilowatt hours and 6,200 kilowatt hours, according to the plea agreement. Jaunich instructed employees to bill Xcel for 1.84 million kilowatt hours, an amount that Jaunich knew was inaccurate. In fact, Jaunich knew that one of the turbines was not even up and operating some of the period.
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