ratepayers Archives - Independence Institute

Virginia Regulators Set an Example for Ratepayer Accountability 0
- August 11, 2022
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
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The Colorado Energy Plan: A proposal that benefits all but the consumer 0
- August 30, 2018
Xcel Energy’s recently approved Colorado Energy Plan (CEP) is what the company refers to as its “Steel for Fuel” strategy. With a green light from Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the CEP is a giant capital investment program to shutter Comanche I and II generating units a decade ahead of schedule. The CEP will replace
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The absurdity of Demand Side Management and social engineering electricity use 0
- April 27, 2017
“For every dollar spent, consumers save $1.77,” say supporters of so-called Demand Side Management (DSM) programs. Want to really save ratepayers money? How about not incentivizing utility monopolies to spend the dollar in the first place and just let ratepayers save 77 cents or more through lower electric rates? Here is the gist of DSM:READ MORE

Energy Policy Center testimony on HB17-1116 0
- March 31, 2017
Mr. Chairman, members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Michael Sandoval. I am the senior energy policy analyst for the Independence Institute, a state-based, free market think tank, headquartered in Denver. The Independence Institute is opposed to HB17-1116 not in intent, but in process. We do think
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Caldara’s Newsletter 02-17-17 0
- February 17, 2017
We have the best investors in the world! Of course, our operation runs on money. But we’re the Independence Institute, so we also run on political incorrectness, inappropriate jokes, and workday drinking. Get this: Different supporters came in today, at different times, to give me three different bottles of scotch whiskey! I’m sure that happens
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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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