Posted on 07/21/2023 6:03:45 AM PDT by george76
The “public interest” does not mean “special interest.” Regulators of Colorado’s public utilities corporations should learn the difference.
The full mission of Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission is it “serves the public interest by effectively regulating utilities and facilities so that the people of Colorado receive safe, reliable, and reasonably priced services consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state.”
That means serving the highest values of nearly 6 million diverse individuals with every imaginable set of priorities. It does not mean serving the highest values of wealthy climate change activists or the political party in power. The 6 million include old and young, rich and poor and people of every conceivable religious, racial, political, ethnic and geographic background and persuasion.
These individuals and families — despite countless differences — have something big in common. They crave safety, warmth, comfort and stability. They share something else. They pay for the indulgences of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, other Democratic state leaders and the climate-change activists who form the hard base of their party.
Whether they pay Colorado Springs Utilities, Black Hills or Xcel Energy, Coloradans endure soaring gas and electric costs to pay for an elusive solution to climate change. Only 12 other states have higher average gas and electric rates than Colorado, and 11 of them are in colder northern climates.
The Colorado Springs City Council closed the coal-fired Drake Power Plant decades early under costly political pressure related to climate change. Xcel and Black Hills — which serve Pueblo, Denver and much of the rest of the state — have likewise raced to convert us from coal-and-gas-fired electric plants to those powered by solar and wind. Xcel plans to close four coal-fired plants at a cost of tens of millions in lost valuation and more in replacement costs.
The center-left’s demand for an energy revolution can have enormous benefits. It is hard to imagine the downside of harnessing solar and wind and adding these to our country’s energy portfolio. Eventually, organic market forces will demand this conversion if it benefits society with or without mandates.
The problem isn’t renewables. It is the overly politicized, inorganic, regulatory race to force them on us before they are reliable, affordable and otherwise fully suitable to the public’s needs and means. Meaningful transitions take time, money and innovation. We don’t travel in flying cars, but we will when the time is right.
We saw the human toll of this canned conversion again this month when Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission — which regulates Black Hills and Xcel, but not Colorado Springs Utilities — considered another rate increase by Xcel. It was the fifth consecutive request for more money in five years. Ratepayers clearly have had enough.
A Public Utilities Commission spokesperson said the request was mostly to pay off “costs of coal plants that are closing earlier than originally planned.” Our utility corporations favor state mandates to close the gas and coal plants because the costs go to consumers and the resulting assets generate profits.
...
Xcel began its latest pitch in November by asking for a $312-million rate increase. After encountering a barrage of objections, the company came back with a revised request for between $45 million and $97 million.
If they can survive and profit with a $45 million raise, why did they ask for seven times that much? Answer: because the Public Utilities Commission might say “yes.” Xcel, like any publicly traded company, has a financial obligation to shareholders and not to ratepayers.
At a Public Utilities Commission Zoom hearing last week, 210 people registered to hear the company make its case for higher rates. All 33 who addressed the commission opposed the idea, most of them explaining the financial hardships of the past five years.
“Unfortunately, Xcel does not see the human side of their continuous request for higher rates,” said Sarah Schueneman, Colorado director for AARP. “Their exorbitant profits are at the expense of our seniors …”
The human side of battling climate change can be heart-wrenching. It means people on the margins cannot stay in their homes, feed their children and pay their other bills. Too much of their money pays for a political goal of more immediate “renewables,” forced on the market before their time.
Society wants and needs more renewable energy. It doesn’t need the hardship of funding this conversion at an irrational, unaffordable pace.
The Public Utilities Commission and our state and local governments should use their authority to slow things down. Incentivize and encourage renewables. Meanwhile, protect households from financial ruin. Start with a moratorium on rate hikes, which would force utilities to find efficiencies and lower expenses.
Uphold the public interest by ensuring the “reliable” and “reasonably priced” energy we need to survive. Doing so will meet the highest economic, environmental and social values of our state.
Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
Justice Marshal said the power to tax is the power to destroy. Besides wanting our money, the government wants to control everything we do. And sometimes it just wants to punish us. For a tyrannical government, it’s truly the perfect mechanism for almost any purpose, none of which are in our interests.
Typical dumbass libtards... stop any attempt to build new facilities (increase supply), then bitch about the cost when demand increases...
I abhor the concept of price controls to control the cost of something like energy. Price controls do not work, and worse, ensure that supplies will be diminished by various mechanisms inherent in the process, which are hostile to the concept of capitalism.
This stupid, leftist, douche bag author, tries vainly to straddle the line of a impartiality, but it is pretty clear in reading the entire article that the person is a leftist with his idiotic “diverse populations“ and open acceptance of the goals of the green agenda, which are utterly stupid with respect to energy.
The real fight that has to be waged here has nothing to do with limiting how much consumers pay for energy. It has everything to do with removing the asinine forces and regulations put in place that are forcing coal fired power plants to shut down and giving taxpayer money to “renewable“ energy, which is far more expensive and less flexible or reliable.
It is all rooted in Leftism, and this person, this author, is one of them.
Greta, can you say unintended consequences?
They want an upgraded grid, but no cost increases. Utility companies are a for profit company. Good luck.
Colorado wanted expensive solar and windmill electricity. They also wanted to give illegal aliens free utilities.
Jared Schutz Polis’ ( and his husband ) goal of 100% renewable energy is to crush working Americans- to freeze in the dark.. with unreliable and expensive energy - that does not work 24-7..
Costs of wind and solar in Colorado are under-estimated, do not include costs of power lines. Xcel Energy’s new $1.7 billion Power Pathway Project to build 550 miles of new 345-kilovolt power lines and at least four new substations in eastern and southeastern Colorado will add to the cost of green energy.
Xcel customers / ratepayers will be paying for the new power lines.
That’s what the people voted for. That’s what they got.
A few years ago they closed down the operational Drake Power Plant, and now they need more money ....
With gov. poleass in charge, xcel has no worries.
“Greta, can you say unintended consequences?”
“Unintended”...LOL.
And then say hello to higher prices for everything
“Biden admin unveils sweeping new actions increasing costs for oil, gas leasing”
“Under the proposal, the lease bond oil and gas developers are required to pay will be hiked from $10,000 to $150,000 and statewide from $25,000 to $500,000, the DOI said. The DOI said the current bonding requirements, established in 1960, are outdated and don’t cover potential federal costs to reclaim a well if companies don’t meet reclamation requirements”
Xcel is guaranteed huge new profits on every dollar spent building new facilities. This is a tremendous incentive for tax free Xcel..
By design - intentional.
“The full mission of Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission is it “serves the public interest by effectively regulating utilities and facilities so that the people of Colorado receive safe, reliable, and reasonably priced services consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state.””
I believe unicorn farts fulfill those requirements nicely.
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