Xcel Energy - Independence Institute

Xcel Proposes Yet Another Rate Hike 0
- Energy, ENERGY - Governing Bodies / Agencies
- December 2, 2022
Colorado’s largest utility is back before the PUC requesting another rate increase, this time a $312.2 million bump in electric rates. The request is just the latest to arrive in 2022, a year that has come to represent a cost-hike bonanza for the energy monopoly. The PUC already approved a $182.2 million electric rate hike
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Xcel Gives Up Plan to Expand Hydropower in Colorado 0
- Energy, ENERGY - Renewable Energy
- November 2, 2022
Pumped-storage hydropower won’t be the answer to Xcel’s need for dispatchable zero-carbon energy. At least not for now. According to the Colorado Sun: Xcel Energy has killed its plan to build a hydropower project in Unaweep Canyon. The utility on Wednesday morning told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that it was withdrawing its application for a
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Stringent Building Codes For Thee, But Not For Me 0
- ENERGY - Renewable Energy
- October 19, 2022
The solar and wind industries (and Xcel Energy) are really, really mad that the International Codes Council (ICC) is considering beefing up resiliency standards for new wind and solar builds in the next iteration of its triennial building codes. According to Utility Dive: A Federal Emergency Management Agency advisory panel proposal that would increase construction
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Fudging the Numbers: How Colorado Policymakers Mislead on Energy Costs 0
- Energy, ENERGY - Governing Bodies / Agencies, Issues
- October 12, 2022
An increasingly common theme of the energy policy debate here in Colorado, particularly among renewables advocates, is the trumpeting of cost statistics purporting to show the affordability benefits of transitioning to wind and solar over legacy fossil fuel plants. Take, for instance, a recent statement made by Governor Jared Polis during a gubernatorial debate late
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Reliance on Solar Projects Threatening Colorado’s Outlook on Grid Reliability 0
- Energy
- October 5, 2022
As Colorado moves to retire legacy fossil-fuel power plants in order to meet Governor Polis’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2040, the state is increasingly reliant on wind and solar to meet our electricity needs. And now, thanks to supply chain snarls hitting the solar industry, our ability to keep the lights on next
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Sky High Gas Bills Coming This Winter 0
- Energy
- September 23, 2022
Last week I wrote about the costs and consequences of underrating natural gas infrastructure, which are currently most pronounced in New England this winter in the form of exorbitant bills and inadequate supply. But it turns out Colorado, while being in better shape than our northeastern counterparts, is not immune to the disruptions roiling the
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