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Tag: Xcel Energy

Colorado’s newest coal plant hasn’t run since August 2025. A national report suggests why.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s newest coal plant hasn’t run since August 2025. A national report suggests why.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Xcel Energy's Comanche 3 power plant in Pueblo went offline on August 12, 2025, after elevated vibrations damaged the turbine. Nearly a year later, it still hasn't produced a single watt. According to Xcel's most recent monthly report to state regulators in Proceeding 25V-0480E, filed July 22, the plant's turbine rotor had to be shipped off-site for repair by Mitsubishi. The parts came back this summer. Workers are now in the middle of reassembling the unit. The company's current estimate for return to service is mid-August 2026. That's twelve months offline for Colorado's newest, largest coal plant, a 750-megawatt facility that cost $1.3 billion to build and runs about $34.5 million a year to operate. The outage ha...
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Months of Power Outages Leave Littleton Neighborhood Looking for Solutions
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Months of Power Outages Leave Littleton Neighborhood Looking for Solutions

By: Kelly Werthmann | CBS Colorado It's been a tough week in Colorado if you struggle with the heat, especially if you don't have access to any sort of cooling measures. Residents say that's what happened in the Columbine Hills neighborhood in Littleton when the power went out for hours at a time. And they say this has been happening since last summer. "We feel like prisoners in our own neighborhood," said resident Brandon Darnell. Darnell s ays he's pretty sick of losing power at his Littleton home. He says it's never a brief outage. "It's a while. It's like, I think at minimum usually four hours," said Darnell. He says it has cost him money. "I've had to throw a lot of money worth of meat away," said Darnell. And it's affected his job. ...
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Colorado Faces Growing Concerns Over Grid Reliability and Energy Costs
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Faces Growing Concerns Over Grid Reliability and Energy Costs

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado In a recent episode of Independence Institute’s* PowerGab energy podcast, hosts Amy Cooke and Jake Fogleman look at the mounting consequences of Colorado’s forced energy transition to renewables, focusing on recent warning from Xcel Energy before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that the state could face a significant power generation shortfall beginning next summer, increasing the risk of rolling blackouts. Cooke and Fogleman contend that regulators have prioritized emissions reductions while giving short shrift to the costs and reliability challenges of replacing dispatchable generation with renewable energy and battery storage. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COMPLETE COLORADO
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Xcel says it has no affordability crisis. Its customers and regulatory filings tell another story.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

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...
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Utilities Push Record $9.2 Billion In New Rate Increases During Second Quarter
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, National

Utilities Push Record $9.2 Billion In New Rate Increases During Second Quarter

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette Colorado had no requests last quarter Electric and gas utilities sought a record $9.2 billion in rate increases nationwide during the second quarter, according to a new analysis by the consumer advocacy organization PowerLines, as utilities continue seeking billions for grid upgrades, reliability improvements and growing electricity demand. The filings would affect more than 56 million customers and push this year’s total requested rate increases to $18.6 billion, the consumer advocacy group said. Colorado was largely absent from the report’s tally of second-quarter rate requests because Xcel Energy’s major electric rate case was already pending before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The utility originally so...
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Behind Colorado’s Renewable Energy Headlines Are Critical Missing Details
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Behind Colorado’s Renewable Energy Headlines Are Critical Missing Details

By: Sarah Montalbano | Commentary, Complete Colorado Allen Best, at his blog Big Pivots, published recently that Colorado for the first time saw a majority of the state’s energy   generation come from renewables:   Colorado achieved an energy and climate milestone during the first quarter of 2026. During those three months, 53% of electricity in Colorado came from renewable sources, up from 43% in 2025, according to an Energy Information Administration report filed in May.  Details matter The trouble is that this jubilant announcement of a “majority” renewables power grid owes more to a stark drop in coal-fired generation than the wind and solar that was added. Percentages rely on both the numerator — how much wind, sola...
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NERC Report Raises New Questions About Colorado Energy Reliability
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

NERC Report Raises New Questions About Colorado Energy Reliability

By: Sarah Montalbano | Complete Colorado The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) 2026 State of Reliability report contains lessons for Colorado’s electricity sector. While the grid as a whole “continues to deliver reliable electric service,” challenges are mounting thanks in part to the “declining availability of aging combustion generation.”  NERC’s report finds that power plants failed more in 2025, with the fleet-wide forced outage rate climbing to 9.2 percent against “historical norms rarely exceeding” 8 percent. Coal-fired plants saw their forced outage rate rise from 11.2% in 2024 to 14.1% in 2025. NERC surveyed owners of generators that s...
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Coloradans Encouraged To Weigh In On Proposed Xcel Gas Hike
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Coloradans Encouraged To Weigh In On Proposed Xcel Gas Hike

By: Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is inviting public input on a range of matters, including a remote hearing on Xcel Energy’s natural gas rate increase proposal, as part of its monthly engagement efforts. The commission on Tuesday announced opportunities for July that include a 9-1-1 Services Enterprise Board meeting, its regular monthly public comment session and the second remote public comment hearing for Xcel Energy’s gas rate case, Proceeding No. 25AL-0538G. Xcel Energy filed its proposal on Dec. 29, 2025. If approved as filed, it would increase average residential gas bills about 11.4%, or $7.59 per month, and small business gas bills about 13%, or $36.47 per month, starting in October, according to the company an...
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PowerGab Examines the Cost of Energy Mandates as Xcel Seeks Massive Rate Hike
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

PowerGab Examines the Cost of Energy Mandates as Xcel Seeks Massive Rate Hike

By: Mike Krause | Complete Colorado In a recent episode of Independence Institute’s* PowerGab energy podcast, hosts Amy Cooke and Jake Fogleman look at Xcel Energy’s request for a massive electricity price hike in Colorado (originally $355 million, now pared down to roughly $245 million). The duo zero in on why utility bills keep rising, and how decisions made years ago are now hitting ratepayers hard. Cooke argues that rate hikes are “lagging indicators,” the result of layers of policy choices, regulatory approvals, and energy mandates dating back more than a decade. She points specifically to the Colorado Energy Plan and the decision to accelerate retirement of coal-fired power plants, with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) prioritizing emissions red...
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Colorado Seniors Feel Heat as Xcel Seeks Double-Digit Rate Increase
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Seniors Feel Heat as Xcel Seeks Double-Digit Rate Increase

By: Maggie Bryan | Denver7 Xcel Energy is proposing electric and gas rate increases that would raise the average customer's bill by about 10% as early as August. DENVER — Some Coloradans are facing tough decisions as they try to stay cool during this week's heat wave, especially those on fixed incomes. Jimmy Cano and his wife, who live in Aurora, received a free portable air conditioning unit Tuesday night thanks to local nonprofit Bright Leaf, an organization that provides food assistance and other resources for seniors in the City and County of Denver. "Usually right at this time, I would probably be sitting here dripping sweat," Cano said. He said the portable AC unit has been a game changer for them as their home does not have a central AC system. B...
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