{"id":16118,"date":"2017-04-14T18:07:53","date_gmt":"2017-04-15T00:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/?p=16118"},"modified":"2017-04-14T18:07:53","modified_gmt":"2017-04-15T00:07:53","slug":"xcels-municipalization-offer-heads-they-win-tails-we-lose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/?p=16118","title":{"rendered":"Xcel\u2019s Municipalization Offer:  Heads They Win, Tails We Lose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two weeks ago, Xcel made a set of 11<sup>th<\/sup> hour electricity provision offers to Boulder, a so-called \u201cpartnership,\u201d and a buy-out option.\u00a0Readers should understand that Xcel\u2019s offers are not what the city asked for; they are only what Xcel is willing to proffer.\u00a0 These offers are lousy deals for Boulder and future generations (see the Sierra Club letter to City Council <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sierraclub.org\/rocky-mountain-chapter\/indian-peaks\/Politics-and-Issues\">http:\/\/www.sierraclub.org\/rocky-mountain-chapter\/indian-peaks\/Politics-and-Issues<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Xcel is committed to coal:<\/u> Almost 70% of Xcel\u2019s electricity generation is from fossil fuels and they don\u2019t plan to phase out large coal-fired generation for over another half century (2070).\u00a0 In the face of climate change and for the sake of future generations, it is inexcusable to continue delaying action against climate change and conversion of our electricity generation to renewable energy sources.<\/li>\n<li><u>Premium for renewables:<\/u> The \u201cpartnership\u201d offers no commitments to achieve Boulder\u2019s goals for decarbonizing our electricity supply.\u00a0It does, however, guarantee that we will pay a premium for renewable energy even though the cost of renewables is less than Xcel\u2019s cost of coal-generated electricity and continues to drop every year.<\/li>\n<li><u>Deja vu all over again:<\/u> \u00a0Xcel\u2019s offer looks effectively like the franchise Boulder chose not to renew in 2010 because Xcel was not interested in working with Boulder to decarbonize its electricity supply.\u00a0And Xcel\u2019s offer handcuffs us to them for another 20 years.\u00a0A generation is a long time to be precluded from availing ourselves of innovations in state and federal legislation and in the energy market.<\/li>\n<li><u>It literally sucks:<\/u> \u00a0Xcel sucks approximately $34 million dollars of profit from Boulder each year, money better spent on modernizing the grid, converting generation to renewable energy and money better kept here at home circulating through our local economy.<\/li>\n<li><u>Inflated buyout:<\/u> The buyout option obligates Boulder to pay 180% of value of the distribution system, inflated separation costs, and an illegal requirement to compensate for lost revenues.\u00a0With its incredibly high cost, it is not a credible option.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_16117\" style=\"width: 330px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16117\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16117\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Wolf-sheep-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Wolf-sheep-1.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Wolf-sheep-1-300x182.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-16117\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit: http:\/\/s382.photobucket.com\/user\/Billyeadon\/library\/<\/p><\/div>\n<p>So why is Xcel proposing this 11<sup>th<\/sup> hour franchise?\u00a0It has the smell of fear.\u00a0Xcel demands that City Council suspend the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) process by April 19th if Council decides to pursue Xcel\u2019s offers.\u00a0But the PUC has already affirmed Boulder\u2019s constitutional right to form a city owned utility.\u00a0The only remaining questions are how we separate from Xcel, the cost, and the timeline.\u00a0 And the PUC will begin considering Boulder\u2019s case to separate from Xcel on April 26th.\u00a0If the PUC accepts Boulder\u2019s separation plan, it starts a chain of events that Xcel mortally fears.\u00a0Many other communities with similar goals to decarbonize in the face of climate change are watching Boulder\u2019s case and if we are successful, that begins the unraveling of Xcel\u2019s investor owned monopoly and renders their business model obsolete.\u00a0Xcel will also lose that annual $34 million of profit from Boulder.<\/p>\n<p>City Council should reject Xcel\u2019s offers and continue with the PUC process.\u00a0Whereas Xcel has everything to lose, Boulder has nothing has nothing to lose.\u00a0Even if the PUC renders an unfavorable decision for Boulder, there is no reason, or rush, to enter into a \u201cpartnership\u201d with Xcel.\u00a0Boulder can continue in its current state with Xcel (out of franchise) indefinitely and reserve the flexibility to take advantage of innovations and evolutions in the electricity world.\u00a0 The legislature may put in place the rules needed to create a true path for municipalization.\u00a0 Colorado may shift to being in a Regional Transmission Organization or &#8220;RTO.&#8221; We may end up with a competitive utility situation like in Texas, with opportunities for customer choice.\u00a0 Suspending the PUC process limits our options for an entire generation.<\/p>\n<p>Citizens of Boulder, City Council needs to hear that you support Boulder continuing with our efforts to ensure a clean energy future for future generations.\u00a0Come to the Council meeting on Monday, April 17<sup>th<\/sup> at 6 PM and express your support.\u00a0 And write City Council at <a href=\"mailto:council@bouldercolorado.gov\">council@bouldercolorado.gov<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two weeks ago, Xcel made a set of 11th hour electricity provision offers to Boulder, a so-called \u201cpartnership,\u201d and a buy-out option.\u00a0Readers should understand that Xcel\u2019s offers are not what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":16117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11,42,108,844,162,806,237,101],"class_list":["post-16118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-call-to-action","tag-city-council","tag-climate-action","tag-coal","tag-electric-utility","tag-municipalization","tag-renewable-energy","tag-renewables","tag-xcel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16118"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16121,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16118\/revisions\/16121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}