Colorado Solar Industry’s Insatiable Appetite for Subsidies
With a quivering voice, Jim Walsh, owner of Bella Solar Energy, described his business troubles to the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee. His message, if not his tears, was repeated yesterday morning by six other solar power representatives. They presented a compelling case that “the New Energy Economy is dead,” in the morbid […]
Xcel getting even fatter off Colorado ratepayers
Xcel Energy just announced its 2010 earnings and the Minnesota based energy company did very well this year: We had another very successful year in 2010, said Richard C. Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer. We delivered earnings in the upper half of our guidance range. This represents the sixth consecutive year in which we […]
Caldara grades Ritter on energy policy
Independence Institute president Jon Caldara tells Energy Now that out-going Governor Bill Ritter gets an “F” for energy policy. Needless to say, that’s not the same grade Ritter would give himself. In the Governor’s interview with Energy Now, he touted his “fuel-switching” bill designed to kill the coal industry and the renewable energy mandate which forces […]
HB 1365 Update: The Appeals Are in…and Everyone Objects to the PUC’s Decision
This week was the deadline to appeal the PUC’s decision on a HB 1365 implementation plan, and judging by the briefs, no one is satisfied that the PUC’s decision passes legal muster. Here’s a roundup of who argued what, along with links to the appeals: Xcel alleges that the PUC’s decision “fails to put into […]
Xcel getting fat off Colorado ratepayers
The cost of the New Energy Economy is just being felt by Colorado ratepayers and enjoyed by Minnesota-based Xcel Energy as proved by the chart below, which is based on the energy company’s third quarter earnings report. But first a few facts about the economics of utility companies: Investor-owned utilities such as Xcel Energy operate […]
HB 1365 Update: Xcel Remains Undecided; Coal Interests Begin To Litigate, Promise More
Regarding HB 1365 (a.k.a. the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act), the big news is that Xcel has yet to make up its mind. As I noted here, the Minneapolis-based utility has the authority under HB 1365 to veto the fuel switching implementation plan chosen by the PUC on December 10. So far, Xcel has kept […]
Does Indiana Have a Lower Tolerance for Corruption than Colorado?
The Hoosier State is roiling over inappropriately cozy relationships between state regulators and the utility they oversee. It started when a top lawyer for the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission took a job with Duke Energy shortly after acting as a judge in a major rate-case before the utility. That got Governor Mitch Daniels’ attention. Then […]
Regarding HB 1365, Here Are Two Numbers To Remember
$8 Doesn’t anyone remember the summer of 2008 when natural gas prices spiked to $8 dollar/mmbtu? Currently, coal supplies almost 70% of Xcel’s electricity portfolio; In 2018, thanks to the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, coal will supply less than half, while natural gas’s share will increase to more than 40%. The upshot is that […]
2010 Ozone Data: More Evidence That CDPHE Is Cooking the Books
Twice I’ve provided evidence that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Energy (CDPHE) has inflated projections of ozone ambient air concentrations (see here and here). Those were critiques of ozone projections. This year is the first year that we have a data set against which to judge the accuracy of CDPHE ozone modeling during […]
EPA’s Ozone Decision Means That HB 1365 Is Most Cost-Ineffective Environmental Policy, Ever
The putative mission of HB 1365 is for Colorado to address “reasonably foreseeable” federal air quality regulations in a holistic fashion, which is supposedly more cost-effective than a piece-meal approach. When it rolled out the legislation, the Ritter administration told the PUC that there were eleven “current and foreseeable air quality requirements (see slides 13 […]
Why Wouldn’t Wirth Say “New Energy Economy”?
Governor Bill Ritter takes a great deal of pride in having coined the phrase “New Energy Economy” to describe the raft of expensive energy policies his administration has pushed through the General Assembly. Earlier this year in Aspen, for example, Governor Ritter noted that, “If you Google it [the phrase “New Energy Economy], I think […]
Is CDPHE Cooking the Books on Colorado Ozone? [Update]
Is the Department of Public Health and Environment cooking the books on Colorado ozone? Without explanation, CDPHE plugged 2006 meteorological data into the models it used to project ambient air concentrations of ozone. That’s suspicious, because 2006 just so happens to be the second worst year of Colorado wildfires on record. According to the 2015 […]
