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Tag: Public Utilities Commission

Colorado Residents Push Back After Xcel Power Shutoffs Disrupt Thousands
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Residents Push Back After Xcel Power Shutoffs Disrupt Thousands

By Brian Maass | CBS Colorado More than 4,000 Coloradans have responded to a state survey regarding Xcel Energy's Public Safety Power Shutoffs last month during extreme wind events and another 160 have provided written feedback to the state's Public Utilities Commission. Most expressed dissatisfaction with Xcel's approach on Dec. 17 and Dec. 19, believing the utility overreacted, and many complained about what they perceive as Xcel's poor or confusing communication around the events. "It was the single most stressful event of my life," wrote one commenter on the commission's website, who headlined their post by saying, "there has to be a better way." Another commented that the PSPS events are "creating unreasonable and unnecessary hardship for resid...
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Unelected Colorado board tightens landfill methane rules statewide
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Unelected Colorado board tightens landfill methane rules statewide

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The Air Quality Control Council (AQCC) passes strict new regulations on landfill methane emissions. I wanted to update an earlier story about the unelected AQCC mulling rules about methane emissions for landfills. Per the Sun article linked at bottom, last month the 9 member board (with only 6 of them voting) finalized rules for landfills around the entire state.You read that right. 6 people on a Zoom meeting made decisions for you. 6 people who you cannot vote out.Since it’s a Sun article by advocate Michael Booth, there is ample space given to environmentalists with a couple words from those that disagreed tossed in, all of which I’ll leave for you to read over, but there are a couple details noteworthy en...
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All Electric Mandate Or ‘All of The Above’ Energy Policy? You Decide
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

All Electric Mandate Or ‘All of The Above’ Energy Policy? You Decide

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice “The problem with Democrats is not that they are ungenerous. The problem is that they are so generous with other people’s money.”  (Jeff Childers)  In December, Excel Energy shut down electricity along the CO Front Range due to “high winds.”  It’s difficult to estimate the costs and impacts for individuals, businesses, homeowners, hospitals and grocery stores. Those who had propane, natural gas or diesel-powered generators were able to weather the storm. Everyone else was out of luck. High winds along the Front Range are normal according to the experts and scientists at NOAA, which is based in Boulder, CO. I lived in Boulder County for 39 years (1976-2015) and do not recall a single planned power sh...
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When outages become policy: Colorado’s energy accountability gap
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

When outages become policy: Colorado’s energy accountability gap

By RMV Editorial Board The mid-December power shutoffs weren’t a weather anomaly or a one-off emergency. They were planned. And for tens of thousands of Coloradans, that fact changed everything. Families scrambled for generators. Hospitals shifted to contingency plans. Small businesses began calculating losses they may never recover. What followed stripped away the abstractions surrounding Colorado’s energy agenda. Policy decisions once discussed in targets, timelines and rulemakings showed up in daily life.  For readers who missed it, that concern was put on the record on Dec. 23, when Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Gov. Jared Polis, calling on him to reverse his electrification agenda and rein in the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). And th...
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Colorado ratepayers foot the bill for the “Just Transition”
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado ratepayers foot the bill for the “Just Transition”

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Who gets stuck with the bill for the “Just Transition”? You. There’s a lot of detail in the Sun article linked below about various communities and how they feel as if Colorado’s “Just Transition” for coal-fired power plants isn’t too just for them.I don’t blame them. With a vote and the swipe of a pen, Colorado Democrats have hamstrung communities that were built around coal-fired power plants in the name of their arbitrary climate mandates. Quoting the article:“Colorado’s push to close all its coal-fired power plants by 2031 — to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — is creating a major economic threat to communities that have relied on jobs and taxes from those plants and the mines that feed them.”*I will leav...
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Who funds Colorado’s legislative fellows and how much influence do they have?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, State

Who funds Colorado’s legislative fellows and how much influence do they have?

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project Meet the Fellows SB25-309, linked first below, has lofty and not-unreasonable goals. Quoting the bill’s fiscal note:“The bill authorizes the Legislative Council Committee to approve agreements between the Legislative Council Staff (LCS) director and nonpartisan organizations to place nonpartisan legislative policy fellows in LCS. Any agreement approved by the committee must ensure that the director retains supervisory authority over fellows, and also specify that any work created during the fellowship remains the property of the General Assembly.”The concept is simple. We all have our areas of expertise and education, and we are all ignorant outside of those areas. Our legislators are no exception; they’re not super men...
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Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado lawmakers are pressing Gov. Jared Polis to reverse course on electrification after recent power shutoffs raised fresh concerns about grid reliability and public safety. “We write to express grave concerns over your administration’s aggressive push for statewide unfunded electrification mandates,” the lawmakers wrote in a Dec. 23 letter. “This agenda, driven by crony politics and excused by nonscience climate alarmism, favors select industries at the expense of Colorado families and businesses.” They warn the state’s energy agenda “is economically harmful and endangers lives by further straining an already fragile electric grid.” The letter was signed by Reps. Ken DeGraaf (HD-22), Brandi Bradley (HD-39), Scott Botto...
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Xcel Power Shutoffs Leave Colorado Small Businesses Facing Major Losses
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Xcel Power Shutoffs Leave Colorado Small Businesses Facing Major Losses

By Sage Kelley | The Denver Gazette Restaurants west of Denver are still coming to grips with product losses and future revenue concerns after power shutoffs last week by Xcel Energy due to high winds. “It’s like living in a third-world country,” Brandon Bortles, owner of Nosu Ramen and Abejas Bistro in Golden, said Tuesday. “We’re all behind the eight ball. I want to know, are we going to do this 10 times a year? What are we going to do in the future? Just shut down the town every day?” Xcel Energy turned off the power multiple times to at least 48,000 customers amid severe winds and extreme wildfire danger between Wednesday and Friday. As many as 160,000 customers were without power at some point, officials said. The initial shutoff occurred Wednesday morning ...
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PUC clean heat rule sparks call for public action over rising utility costs
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

PUC clean heat rule sparks call for public action over rising utility costs

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Email the PUC about their natural gas rule this December. I wanted to share with you another way you can speak up to the PUC re. their Clean Heat Rulemaking. In addition to speaking up at their January 14th meeting, you can also send in an email prior to their finalizing their Clean Heat Plan December 22nd.I received the below from a reader recently. Quoted here with links intact:“Per the Commission’s usual process, any individual, stakeholder or organization may request that the Commission reconsider its decision on these rules. Such requests are due by Dec. 22. The Commission will consider these requests and publicly deliberate at a January weekly meeting. Any one wishing to make public comment or request ...
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What Xcel promised regulators and what customers were told before Dec. 17 shutoff warnings
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

What Xcel promised regulators and what customers were told before Dec. 17 shutoff warnings

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Coloradans are being asked to prepare for the chance of a planned outage on Dec. 17. The company’s public alerts tell people to watch the map. The filings tell a fuller story about thresholds, timelines and who is supposed to be in the loop when a shutoff is on the table. That framework was not created overnight. It was built through years of filings with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and formally approved in 2025. As of Dec. 16, the documents already on record allow for a clearer picture of what Xcel committed to regulators and what customers were actually told as the wind event approached. Dec. 17 was not an improvisation Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are not ad hoc emergency decisions. They are a s...
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