Xcel says it has no affordability crisis. Its customers and regulatory filings tell another story.
By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice
Every week, Carlos H. sits down with his bills and works out what his family can go without.
Some weeks it is dinner. “I just opt out to say, hey, okay, maybe won’t be cooking up something tonight, so we can just make ends meet,” the Denver father said. Some weeks it is gas—a quarter tank instead of a full one, and the math of whether that gets him to the next payday. He has a 14-year-old daughter and a baby due in February.
His electric bill runs $120 to $150 a month. A proposed Xcel settlement could push it higher.
“We don’t have an affordability crisis,” Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy Colorado, told the House Energy and Environment Committee on April 23, arguing against a proposal to give regulators more power over how util...