Power quality, promises, and profits
Power quality. That’s the phrase I heard several times after chatting with some small business owners whose livelihood – as well as those of their employees – depends upon good power quality: Good power quality can be defined as a steady supply voltage that stays within the prescribed range, steady a.c. frequency close to the […]
Retired KS lawmaker and geophysicist warns PUC against Xcel’s “inherently damaging” energy plan
“Inherently damaging” is how former Kansas State Representative and Chairman of House Energy and Environment Committee Dennis Hedke (Republican) describes Xcel Energy’s “Colorado Energy Plan” in a letter to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and copied to the Colorado State Senate majority leadership and the Independence Institute. Hedke sent the letter certified mail and […]
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. […]
Slaying a dragon: Pruitt strikes down the CPP
President Obama and the eco-left’s draconian federal scheme to regulate carbon emissions comes to an end, but Colorado still faces a similar dragon closer to home. I don’t think I’ve ever written this, but thank goodness for the EPA! Well, actually, thank goodness for Administrator Pruitt’s announcement that he will “formally sign a proposal to […]
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 […]
Money and power in Colorado
How the state’s largest monopoly utilities have benefited financially in former Governor Bill Ritter’s New Energy Economy. By Brit Naas Executive Summary The last ten years of Colorado energy policy can be defined as the decade of what former Democrat Governor Bill Ritter dubbed the “New Energy Economy,” (NEE) a fundamental transformation of how the state […]
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 […]
Hick proves Mark Twain’s quote to be true
Parts of Governor John Hickenlooper’s announcement of his climate change executive order reminded me of Mark Twain’s famous quote: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” Below are some of my favorite Hick quotes followed by my commentary. “We will tap […]
Global warming executive order or corporate welfare program for Xcel or both?
Doing his best Barack Obama rule-by-fiat impersonation, Governor John Hickenlooper signed an Executive Order (EO) to compel Colorado ratepayers to pay for compliance with the Paris Climate Treaty from which President Trump recently withdrew the United States. For someone who follows state level energy and environmental activity, this was a surprise. Usually these things get leaked, […]
Beware of global warming opportunists in conservative clothing
There is a new, Colorado-based, self-described “conservative” group The Western Way (TWW) with an enticing tag line “conservative stewards of the Western environment.” Sounds good, right? Until you try to find out who these “conservative stewards” really are. If you are attending the Western Conservative Summit (and you should), you will see these guys there. […]
Regulators expand their authority, play politics with carbon at ratepayer expense
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Brit Naas In a decision that evokes former President Obama’s environmental agenda, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on March 23, 2017, expanded its authority in a way that’s likely to drive up electricity rates. Every four years, Xcel Energy undergoes a resource planning process that outlines their ability to meet ratepayers’ electricity demand. […]
