Xcel Rates: updates from Bill Levis

Latest updates:
Xcel residential customers will have the opportunity on May 31 and July 11 to let the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) how much they oppose the company’s fifth request in five years to increase its base energy rates. This request is on top of a number of others that Xcel has filed with the PUC in the last couple of years.

Both the Utility Consumer Advocate (UCA) that represents residential, agricultural and small business customers and the PUC trial staff filed detailed testimony earlier this month challenging Xcel’s proposed $312 million increase and a proposed return on equity (ROE) of 10.25%. The trial staff recommended that the proposed increase be reduced to $21 million with an ROE of 9.02%. While the UCA recommended a higher ROE of 9.3%, the office determined that Xcel should actually reduce its proposed net increase by $26.6 million.

Xcel's past success:
The company has been successful in getting the General Assembly to pass a number of bills especially in 2019 and 2021 that pass the costs for prematurely closing its power plants to consumers as Xcel converts to renewable energy. Part of the reason the company has been so successful is because it spends more on lobbyists than anyone else at the Colorado Legislature.

However, this year because of the consumer backlash as the result of at least the doubling of winter energy rates, the General Assembly passed and the Governor signed Senate Bill 23-291 that limits the costs that Xcel can pass on its customers. The Public Utilities Commission* has an similar opportunity in the current Xcel rate case to reject the company’s base rate proposal and, instead, adopt the proposal of either its trial staff or the UCA or a compromise of the two.

Want to get involved?

• AARP Colorado hopes that its members will take the opportunity of the remote public hearing from 4-6 pm on May 31 or July 11 to let the PUC know its concern in proceeding no. 22AL-0530.
• For more information on how to attend the hearing, go to this link.
• Public comments can be provided at any time until a decision is issued in September.
  
  • Written comments can be submitted through the PUC’s electronic filing system,
  • Mailed to the PUC at Colorado Public Utilities Commission, 1560 Broadway, Suite 250, Denver, CO 80202,
  • Or submitted via phone call: comments can be left in English or Spanish at 303-869-3490.
  • You can also use the Commission’s online form or email dora_puc_website@state.co.us.

*This is not an AARP event.  Any information you provide the host organization will be governed by its privacy policy.