xcel

In 2011, the New Energy Economy Will Cost Coloradans…0
- March 11, 2011
For all the ink that Colorado’s public officials have spilled on the subject of the New Energy Economy, there’s been little discussion of its cost. Ex-Governor Bill Ritter, for example, recently took to the pages of the New York Times to brag about his energy legacy. While he made an unsubstantiated claim about creating “thousands
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Xcel’s Green Energy Accounting: Even Worse than I First Thought 0
- March 9, 2011
In a recent post, I explained how Xcel maneuvers around the 2 percent annual rate cap on green energy spending. In a nutshell, the utility avoids the rate cap with accounting tricks that function to underestimate the cost of renewable energy and overestimate the cost convention energy. Thus, Xcel suppresses the annual “incremental cost” of
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In Addition to Being Cost-Ineffective, Xcel’s Solar*Rewards Subsidy Is Regressive 0
- March 7, 2011
In addition to being cost-effective—even by solar power’s expensive standards—Xcel’s controversial Solar*Rewards subsidy program is also regressive. That is, it’s a subsidy for the rich, borne disproportionately by the poor. Elsewhere, I discuss how Solar*Rewards program, a far-too-generous subsidy for the installation of solar photovoltaic panels, became a political hot potato in Colorado (for a
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Where is Xcel Hiding the Cost of Wind Power?0
- March 4, 2011
Under Colorado’s Renewable Electricity Standard, investor-owned utilities in Colorado must generate 12 percent of their electricity from renewable energy this year. The requirement was 5 percent last year. By 2020, it is 30 percent. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar cost more than conventional energy sources like coal and gas, but Colorado lawmakers sought
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Preview of PUC Deliberations on Solar*Rewards Program 0
- March 4, 2011
At 11:00 AM this morning, the PUC will take up Docket No. 11A-135E, “In the Matter of the Application of Public Service Company of Colorado for Approval of a Reduction in the Standard Rebate Offer.” In less lawyerly terms, the hearing is on Xcel’s request to lower solar subsidies. The issue is a political hot-potato
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How Xcel Avoids the Rate Cap on Green Energy 0
- March 1, 2011
The problem with “green” energy is that it costs more than conventional energy. We can all agree that a solar powered future would be great, but most of us also agree that we’re not willing to pay five to ten times what we pay now for energy in order to try to achieve that future.
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