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 […]
Jake Fogleman Talks Rising Energy Bills, the Role of State Energy Policy on Free State Colorado
Independence Institute Director of Policy Jake Fogleman appeared on Free State Colorado this week to talk about the forces currently driving increasing energy costs for Colorado households and businesses. He also discussed the role state lawmakers have played in imposing those costs in pursuit of a clean energy transition and what energy policy trends Colorado […]
Colorado’s Green Hydrogen Boondoggle
In 2024, the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) commissioned a report from Ascend Analytics, entitled Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in Colorado’s Electric Sector by 2040, to evaluate the potential to achieve near-zero and zero greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector by 2040. The study examined a business-as-usual—or Economic Deployment—scenario and six other scenarios that achieve […]
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 Lawmakers Reignite the State’s ‘Oil and Gas Wars’
Upon signing legislation to usher in a new regulatory paradigm for the industry, Governor Jared Polis famously declared an end to Colorado’s oil and gas wars in 2019. The state’s saber-rattling legislature has other ideas in mind for 2024. Emboldened by historic majorities in the legislature, Colorado Democrats have introduced Senate Bill 159, a measure to […]
Pricey Electrification Gets a Boost from Local Media
Many Democratic lawmakers, climate activists, and progressive academics see so-called beneficial electrification as the wave of the future for climate action. As such, there has been a growing chorus among this community in recent years calling for the end of natural gas heating systems and appliances and propping up their electric alternatives as superior options. Occasionally, […]
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 […]
Colorado’s Energy Future: The High Cost of 100 Percent Electric Home Heating
What began as a first-of-its-kind ban on new natural gas hookups in 2019 in Berkeley, California, has turned into a nationwide movement. To date, more than 100 cities plus the state of New York have since passed gas bans of their own to push their citizens toward electrification. It has even begun to spread in […]
Dr. Polis Prescribes Even Higher Utility Bills
Primum non nocere. Translation: first, do no harm. It’s a phrase that has been part of the medical ethics lexicon since the 17th century. Coloradans would have been wise to apply it to energy policy some two decades ago, when the eco-left began politicizing energy production, electricity, and our grid. Flanked by low-income customers, Governor […]
Jake Fogleman Talks Xcel Energy Bills, Colorado Climate Policy on the George Brauchler Show
Policy analyst Jake Fogleman joined the George Brauchler Show on 710 KNUS to talk about the sky-high energy bills Xcel customers have been seeing this winter due to a pancaking series of rate hikes granted by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. They also discuss who is ultimately to blame for those rate hikes, the reality […]
Jake Fogleman Talks Natural Gas Saving Colorado’s Grid, Nuclear Energy on the Mandy Connell Show
Policy analyst Jake Fogleman joined the Mandy Connell Show on 850 KOA to talk about his article on Colorado’s dunkelflaute episode that saw fossil fuels save the stability of Colorado’s electric grid. They also discuss the pros and cons of nuclear power and why the state’s policymakers would be wise to consider championing it if they […]
