Independence Institute Tells the Public Utilities Commission to Pump the Brakes on De-Facto Gas Ban
The PUC is holding a Zoom public comment hearing on these rules on Monday, September 19th at 9am. People who wish to participate in that hearing can find more information here. They can also submit written comments referencing Proceeding No. 21R-0449G by clicking here. In the 2021 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly passed SB21-264, […]
What Not to Do: California Energy Policy Serves As a Warning to Colorado
Just days after finalizing a future ban on the sale of gas-powered vehicles, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) sent out a bulletin Tuesday afternoon warning that an expected heat wave posed serious threats to the reliability of the state’s electric grid. Starting tomorrow through Tuesday, California and the West are expecting extreme heat that […]
Study: Shoddy Public Charging Infrastructure Hampers EV Take-Up
Policymakers at both the national and state levels are making a concerted effort to encourage the widespread adoption of electric vehicles among the general public. Here in Colorado, the Polis administration has set a goal of having 940,000 EVs on the road by 2030 as part of its plan to electrify the state’s transportation sector […]
Virginia Regulators Set an Example for Ratepayer Accountability
Last Friday, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC)—a regulatory agency that, among other things, oversees the state’s utilities—imposed a strict performance standard that carries financial consequences if a proposed offshore wind project from the state’s largest utility fails to perform. This is a huge win for ratepayer accountability, and it has real implications for customers […]
Gone with the Wind: Weather Dependent Energy Puts Residents at Risk
The power grid in Texas is a little bit under the weather. A major heat wave has arrived just as the wind stopped blowing, creating a perfect storm for residents looking for relief from the blistering summer sun in the country’s second-largest state. As Bloomberg reports: Wind power — a key source of electricity in […]
Clean and Reliable: The Case for Small-Modular Reactors in Colorado
Electric grid reliability is on the forefront of everyone’s mind following a sobering report from the country’s grid overseer. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a regulatory body overseeing grid operations across the United States and Canada, warned last month in its latest summer reliability assessment that vast swaths of the West and Midwest […]
PUC Sunset Review: ‘The Turducken Act of 2019 (With a Slice of PUC-in Pie)’
On the last day of the 2019 legislative session State Representative Hugh McKean (R-Loveland) moved the most appropriate amendment of the session to rename SB19-236 the PUC Sunset Review bill to the “TURDUCKEN ACT of 2019 (With a Slice of PUC-in Pie). A Turducken is a chicken stuffed into a duck, stuffed inside a turkey. […]
More proof that Xcel’s Colorado Energy Plan won’t save ratepayers money
By Brit Naas A major stipulation of Xcel’s Colorado Energy Plan (CEP) is a reduction in the utility’s coal fired generation. If the Public utilities Commission approves the plan, Xcel will close Comanche Units 1 and 2, which combined are capable of providing 660 megawatts of electricity. In compliance with the CEP, Xcel hopes to […]
Public support for Xcel’s controversial plan? The rest of the story…
By Amy Oliver Cooke with contributor Tyson Thornburg A cursory review of the emails and letters sent to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) seems to indicate significant support for Xcel Energy’s costly and controversial Colorado Energy Plan. Our guess is that’s exactly what Xcel wants the media, the public, and the PUC to believe. […]
Continental Army versus British Empire: coalition opposes Xcel’s latest money grab
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 […]
Xcel is getting ‘hoggy’
“Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I’m just telling you, when you’ve got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That’s rule No. 1 of business.” Mark Cuban, March 2014. Xcel Energy is […]
Xcel’s backroom deal likely to screw ratepayers…again
Rumor has it that Colorado’s largest monopoly utility Xcel Energy is about to renege on a 2004 settlement that cost ratepayers dearly. And, Xcel will do it with the Governor John Hickenlooper’s blessing. Why? Because they don’t want to change their Electric Resource Plan (ERP) as I (and likely others) have suggested they should do […]
