Colorado PUC Steamrolls Local Decisions on Xcel’s $1.7B Power Pathway Transmission Line
When Xcel Energy started condemning Elbert County ranchland for its $1.7 billion, 550-mile Power Pathway transmission line, it hadn’t yet bothered to secure local permits. The monopoly utility filed condemnation actions against landowners while holding signed easement agreements on just 27 of the 48 properties it needed to access. Even Colorado Public Utilities Commissioner Tom […]
Testimony on the Sunset Review of the Public Utilities Commission
The Independence Institute has submitted written testimony on HB26-1326, “Sunset Review of the Public Utilities Commission,” which will be heard in the Colorado House Energy & Environment Committee tomorrow, April 24, 2026, at 1:30 p.m., pending any further schedule changes. Unfortunately, the bill will make the PUC less transparent and accountable, as well as cement […]
Xcel Energy Proposes Large-Load Tariff for Data Centers
Last week, Xcel Energy proposed a long-awaited large-load tariff on data centers that want to build in Colorado. The impulse to ensure data centers don’t shift costs onto residential ratepayers is admirable, and this tariff could help in the short term. But if the terms are too restrictive, data centers will bypass Colorado’s grid entirely […]
Colorado Sun’s ‘Nonpartisan’ Case Against Natural Gas is Misleading
The Colorado Sun recently published an opinion article that diagnoses a real problem — rising energy costs — but misdiagnoses the cause. Policies forcing wind, solar, and batteries onto the grid and mandating electrification are raising costs for Colorado consumers, not natural gas. Set aside that the authors, Silvio Marcacci and Dan Esposito, work for […]
More energy bills with bigger stakes
In early February, Independence Institute’s Energy & Environmental Policy Center flagged the early energy bills introduced in the Colorado legislature. As we enter March, some bills have had hearings and their fates decided. Here’s where things stand. Early casualties in committee hearings include SB26-033, which would have added some pre-permitting requirements and grid reliability statements […]
Jake Fogleman Discusses the PUC’s Plan to Phase Out Natural Gas on Free State Colorado
Independence Institute Director of Policy Jake Fogleman appeared on the Free State Colorado podcast this week to talk about the Public Utilities Commission’s recent decision aimed at phasing out natural gas use in homes and commercial buildings. He discussed what the PUC’s new “clean heat” targets will mean in practice for gas utilities and ratepayers, […]
PUC Establishes New ‘Clean Heat’ Targets Designed to Crack Down on Natural Gas
The regulatory noose around Colorado’s natural gas utilities just got a whole lot tighter, and captive ratepayers stand to bear the brunt of the economic pain. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Monday issued a formal decision updating the state’s emissions targets under its first-in-the-nation “clean heat plan” law. The decision established by rule […]
The Big Short(fall): Colorado’s Upcoming Power Plant Closures and Planned Replacements
By Ethan Cornell* Introduction The data summarizing planned generation closures in Colorado signals a rapid and profound infrastructural transformation. The schedule details the planned retirement of 10 major coal-fired units between 2025 and 2031, collectively representing a loss of nearly 4,200 megawatts (MW) of nameplate capacity. The primary policy question this raises is whether the […]
Independence Institute Tells the Public Utilities Commission to Reconsider Forced Electrification Rulemaking
In the 2021 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly passed SB21-264, a first-in-the-nation law requiring the state’s gas distribution utilities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 4% by 2025 and by 22% by 2030, from a 2015 baseline, by filing “Clean Heat Plans” with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Since then, Colorado gas utilities like […]
Colorado Utilities Signal Pain Ahead for Energy Transition
Sample excerpt here…
Colorado PUC Trims Xcel’s Unprecedented Renewables Plan
Ratepayer interests received a small win from Colorado regulators overseeing Xcel Energy’s latest resource plan. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) pared back Xcel’s $15 billion request to build wind, solar, batteries, and new transmission lines by around $3 billion last week. The PUC’s trimming of Xcel’s request came as it approved an alternative resource […]
Bootleggers, Baptists, and the Clean Energy Transition
Independence Institute has a long track record of warning against the unhealthy incentives that can arise from the relationship between monopoly electric utilities and green policymakers. Once viewed as rivals of one another, the two sides realized a few years back that coexisting as fellow travelers on the road to the so-called clean energy transition […]
