Posted on 03/30/2022 7:39:43 AM PDT by george76
Customers to pay 3x as much during 'peak' hours..
DENVER — Xcel Energy will soon start charging higher electricity rates during peak hours, and that is causing a lot of confusion and anxiety among customers like Tamara Casillas.
“I’m a grandmother and I’m on a pension,” Casillas said.
She points out that families are paying more for everything right now, from groceries to gas.
“With inflation and everything that’s going on in the world, things are going to go up a little, and it’s getting harder and rougher for everybody,” she said.
So, Xcel’s announcement that it will be raising rates is yet another blow to her budget.
Customers will pay nearly three times more during peak hours versus off-peak hours. Peak hours are defined as 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, just as families are getting home from school and work.
“That’s when we’re home watching TV,” Casillas said. “The kids are on laptops or computers doing their homework. A lot of energy is used at that time - cooking, dishwashers, stoves.”
“It’s going to cost me three times as much to cook a pizza at 5:30 p.m. as it does at 7:01,” said a Centennial father of two.
You can opt out of the Time of Use program.
“I’ve sent them two messages saying, ‘If I opt out of this – what’s the flat rate?’” said the Centennial man. “I haven’t been able to get an answer. That’s why I contacted you guys.”
We contacted Xcel on his behalf and yours and got a response. If you opt out of the time-of-use rates, you pay $0.12 cents per kilowatt hour in the winter and $0.14 cents in the summer.
If you opt in, you pay $0.10 cents per kilowatt hour during off-peak hours in the summer and $0.28 cents during peak hours in the summer. In the winter, you pay $0.10 cents per kilowatt hour during off-peak hours, and if you opt-in, you pay $0.17 cents during peak hours.
“I didn’t even see the option to opt out in their literature they mailed,” said the Centennial man. “You get told what’s going to happen and when you have questions – you get no response from them.”
Casillas also wonders how this will impact Xcel’s budget billing.
“Last year – budget billing was $70 dollars a month,” Casillas said of Xcel’s budget program. “This year – it’s already $90/month.”
She, too, questions the transparency of this new pricing structure.
“To be sneaky is just not fair to us,” Casillas said.
As a regulated monopoly, Xcel is guaranteed huge profits... Xcel does not care about the rate payers.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3676530/posts
Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
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See how the rationing comes next. It’s what happens when you vote for earth worshipping socialist pagans.
You voted for this, enjoy the suck
Colorado has the Taxpayer Bill Of Rights (TABOR) act. It prevents tax increases without a vote. HOWEVER, the Colorado Supreme Court falsely ruled “fees” are not taxes. So, Colorado has raised “fees” all over the place. The increase in electricity costs come with increases in “fees”. It is another avenue for Colorado to tax people even more. Colorado taxes have become unbearable for many people. Just registering a new vehicle costs an average of $1,400 now.
“I’m a grandmother and I’m on a pension,” Casillas said.”
What is the relevance, to the subject of this article, to being a grandmother? Receiving a pension, assuming it’s a fixed amount, is relevant. But there are probably quite a few grandmothers who are independently wealthy.
“15 years ago Xcel said spending $190 million by ratepayers - not stockholders “
Sounds like you need a refresher course in capitalism versus socialism!
As an industrial consumer, I do that now.
As a residential consumer, I have done that also.
40 of Colorado’s 64 counties reported registration rates that exceeded 100% of the eligible citizen voting- age population. . ~Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Nothing says clean government like outlawing audits.. Colorado Secretary of State : Mohamed Enab’s wife : Jena Griswold banned election audits..
It has reached the point where it is possible that a NG powered generator providing power during peak hours may actually be a cheaper alternative for some people.
Nevada County in N Calif has played the same game with “FEES” instead of “TAXES” on the property tax bills.
They are doing end runs around Prop 13.
Did the nation vote for BiteMe..?
My budget billing went from $115 a month to $169 a month here in Colorado Springs.
[[ DENVER — Xcel Energy will soon start charging higher electricity rates during peak hours]]
And now we see the reason for the lefts demand that we switch to electric vehicles- they argue right now that it is cheaper to run them than gas cars, and that folks can “recharge at night when rates are lowest” but the problem is that as soon as everyone is forced onto,electric cars, everyone Wil, be charging all hours of day and night, and there no longer will be “cheaper hours” once that happens
And once they get everyone dependent on electric, up up up go the prices to,you know, “save muvver erff” and all
Xcel Energy announced its proposal to close the Comanche I & II power units in Pueblo a decade ahead of schedule. They offered as replacement the euphemistically titled “Colorado Energy Plan” , a massive $2.5 billion fuel-switching scheme to move its Colorado customers away from baseload, reliable hydrocarbons in favor of intermittent renewables.
Many have and others are researching NG ( still needs electricity to keep the pressure up ) and propane powered generators that can be used during black outs - not just in Texas when it got cold / snowy as the solar panels & wind mills froze / could not keep up.
That'll probably cut your power bills in half. Solar power isn't perfect. But you'll be in control of at least half of your power costs.
Not a big deal.
I’ve been on time-of-use rates for decades.
Just don’t run your dryer, electric water-heater or air-conditioner during the peak periods.
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