Office of Consumer Counsel

Coopted, corrupted and busted: OCC, regulatory process need fixing 0
- January 22, 2018
The regulatory space at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is the playground of corporate lawyers, unelected bureaucrats, and well-funded special interest groups. They have “stakeholder” meetings that include only themselves. Then they issue press statements slapping each other on the back for their hard work securing a “settlement” that forces Colorado working families and
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Tax reform brings ratepayer relief across country but not in Colorado 0
- January 20, 2018
Across the country, utility regulators and elected officials are asking regulated monopolies in their states how they plan to pass along to customers savings from lower tax rates due to the federal tax act. Many utilities are responding. Customers from Boston to Portland are seeing their rates slashed due to the decreased the U.S. corporate
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Xcel Energy, PUC, and OCC are Irresponsible by Ratepayers 0
- September 7, 2016
By Amy Oliver Cooke and Michael Sandoval Is it time to eliminate the Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) and elect our Commissioners who serve on the Public Utilities Commission (PUC)? Maybe. Our recent insider perspective on the so-called approval process by supposedly neutral regulators leaves us pondering that very question. The most recent Xcel Energy
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Advice for Incoming PUC Chair 0
- April 5, 2011
For 4 years, Public Utilities Commission Chair Ron Binz has been a key driver of the New Energy Economy. Under his watch, the PUC changed its mission, from advancing lowest cost electricity, to fighting climate change with expensive green energy. As was first reported here, Binz is leaving life as an environmentalist PUC Chair, for
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Smart Grid City: Suddenly, the PUC Cares about Costs?0
- January 11, 2011
The PUC has finally ruled on Xcel’s cost-recovery for the Boulder Smart Grid City (SGC). Before we get to that, here’s a timeline of the SGC, for background: January 2008: Xcel announced it was looking for a city of 100,000 in its eight-state territory as a test bed for smart grid. March 2008: Xcel chooses
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