Update on PUC Hearings for HB 1365: Another Long Day of Cross Examinations
Today Will Be Another Long Day of Cross Examinations The Colorado electricity industry is regulated such that investor-owned utilities like Xcel cannot make any significant decisions without approval from the PUC. As a result, electricity businesses don’t compete with one another on the market, but rather in PUC hearings. For these companies, profits are dictated […]
Review of October 27 PUC Hearing on HB 1365: Commissioner Baker Must Be a Persuasive Guy!
Brief Refresher on Xcel’s New Plans [N.B. I am repeating this refresher on Xcel’s new plans because I think it’s a handy reference] Xcel on Monday proposed four alternative plans to comply with HB 1365, after its original plan was rejected by the PUC on October 21. The four alternative plans are similar. They all […]
Preview of October 27 PUC Hearings on HB 1365: Everyone Gets a Swing at Xcel's New Plans
Very Brief Refresher on Xcel’s New Plans Xcel on Monday proposed four alternative plans to comply with HB 1365, after its original plan was rejected by the PUC last Thursday. The four alternative plans are similar. They all call for the retirement of four coal plants and top-of the line pollution controls for three others. […]
Running Timeline of HB 1365 Implementation Plan
August 13: Xcel filed its preferred emissions reductions plan (“plan 6.1E” or “preferred plan”). To read a brief summary of Plan 6.1E, click here. September 4: A group of independent power producers, electricity generators that compete with Xcel on the wholesale electricity market, challenged plan 6.1E, arguing that it is illegal because it included actions […]
Review of October 26 PUC Hearing on HB 1365: No One Is Happy with Xcel’s New Plan, Including Xcel
Review October 25 Preview: Primer October 25 Review: PUC Deliberations Are Mere Industrial War by Other Means October 26 Preview: A New Plan October 26 Update: Xcel’s New Plan Is Actually an Old Plan No One Is Happy with Xcel’s New Plan, Including Xcel Not a single stakeholder readily supports Xcel’s new recommended strategy to […]
HB 1365 Update: Xcel's New Plan Is Actually an Old Plan
Xcel’s New Plan: It’s Actually an Old Plan Rather than offer a new HB 1365 implementation plan after the PUC rejected its preferred plan, Xcel settled on an old plan. Here’s a quick review of the process that led to the new/old plan. Last summer, Xcel considered nine scenarios to comply with HB 1365. In […]
Preview of October 26 PUC Hearing on HB 1365: A New Plan
Archive Preview of October 25 PUC Hearing Review of October 25 PUC Hearing Preview of October 26 PUC Hearing: A New Plan Yesterday at 5pm, Xcel filed a new plan to meet HB 1365. The utility’s original plan had been rejected by the PUC because it would have switched fuels at a 351 megawatt Denver […]
[Updated] Review of October 25 PUC Hearing on HB 1365: PUC Deliberations Are Mere Industrial War by Other Means
Review of October 25 PUC Hearing on HB 1365 As I explained this morning, Xcel today filed a new plan to comply with HB 1365, the controversial 2010 law to meet all “reasonably foreseeable” state and federal air quality regulations. The PUC rejected Xcel’s original plan because it would have replaced a 351 megawatt Denver […]
Primer for October 25 PUC Hearing on HB 1365
A Quick Review of HB 1365… HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, mandates that Xcel file a plan by August 15 2010 that would: be implemented by December 31, 2017; meet “reasonably foreseeable” state and federal air quality regulations; achieve at least 70% reductions in nitrogen oxides emissions from at least 900 megawatts […]
Update on PUC Hearings for H.B. 1365: It's Going To Be a Long Weekend for Xcel's Top Brass
The Public Utilities Commission this week held deliberations on Xcel’s implementation plan to meet H.B. 1365 (“The Clean-Air Clean Jobs Act”), legislation that effectively mandates fuel switching of 900 megawatts of electricity generation from coal power to natural gas. If you haven’t been following H.B. 1365, it’s a classic case of government picking and choosing […]
How Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s New Energy Economy Is Like the Bowl Championship Series
On GQ’s blog, there’s an interesting interview with two acclaimed sports writers, about the Bowl Championship Series. As millions of Americans know well, the BCS is the complicated system that chooses a national champion in the billion dollar college football industry. There are more than 100 schools vying for the crystal football awarded to the […]
Rep. Max Tyler Is Wrong about Wind Power
Forcing Xcel customers to pay more for less energy hurts the State’s economy. Period.
