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 […]
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 […]
Community Choice Programs: The Future of Energy in Colorado?
The purpose of this blog post is not to state the Independence Institute’s position on Community Choice Energy Programs (CCE). It is, however, written to help foster a better understanding of CCEs and Representative Hooton’s bill HB20-1064: “Public Utilities Commission Study of Community Choice Energy.” If the bill passes, it will not revolutionize the way […]
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. […]
A Solution that Protects Liberty and Our Electricity
Fifth article in our series about microgrids By: Casey Freeman Contributor: Brit Naas Security concerns surrounding America’s electric grid steadily grow as attacks and the threat of an attack increase. In 2015, Ukraine was victim to a large scale cyberattack on its electric grid, which resulted in 225,000 people without power. The attack has been […]
Ripe for Change: It’s Time to Consider Microgrids
Fourth article in our series about microgrids. What received a D+ rating and is in need of major updates and improvements? No, not the Denver Broncos’ coaching staff! The answer is the U.S. electric grid. The United States electric grid is still an engineering marvel, but much of it was built before the twenty-first century, […]
Microgrid Technology: The Option for the Individual
Third article in our series about microgrids By Casey Freeman The combination of new technology and the free market has given average people access to goods and services that until recently were readily available only to the upper echelons of society. For example, ordering a nice car to your door to chauffer you around town […]
Don’t be dull, embrace microgrids
By Casey Freeman First article in our series about microgrids Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy are Colorado’s two regulated electric monopolies. Xcel is the larger of the two and provides retail service to the greater Denver Metro Area, Greeley, and Grand Junction, while Black Hills services Pueblo and the surrounding area. These utilities operate […]
The Colorado Energy Plan: A proposal that benefits all but the consumer
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 […]
Club 20 and its due diligence
After a little due diligence, Club 20, the long-time “Voice of the Western Slope,” revised its position on Xcel Energy’s Colorado Energy Plan from “support” to “neutral” on Xcel Energy’s Colorado Energy Plan (CEP) according to a letter it sent to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission last November. Originally, the Western Slope’s premiere “coalition of counties, communities, […]
Pueblo beware of Xcel’s promise of economic development
Xcel Energy continues to make absurd claims about its Colorado Energy Plan Corporate Enrichment Plan (CEP). The Coalition and others have debunked the cost-savings scam, but what about the economic development claims? One of our favorites is that the CEP, which will destroy 80 to 90, maybe more, good-paying jobs in Pueblo, is good economics for […]
