DENVER, Colo. — More than 100 miles south of Denver is Xcel Energy's coal powered plant in Pueblo, servicing power to the Front Range. The plant is slated to close by the end of 2023 and the big question now is: What will Xcel do with it next?
"We want to make sure the public knows it's not too late to weigh in," said Danny Katz, the executive Director of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group, or CoPIRG, for short.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is in the process of considering Xcel's proposal to identify new power generation to replace retiring coal units, with the last remaining two being complete by the end of 2030.
But CoPIRG officials said the scale of Xcel's current proposal needs reeling in.
They said the proposal calls for an output of about 14 times more energy than the current plant does by using a combination of renewable resources and gas.
The consumer advocacy group is concerned that if the utility company builds more than they need, customers will be stuck paying more on their utility bill to cover the cost.
"There's a $100 million fund proposed that would actually go to develop new technologies, some of which are untested or have even proven to be quite expensive recently," Katz said. "A $500 million fund that would go to pre-purchase equipment, even if we might not need that equipment."
Scripps News Denver reached out to Xcel about those concerns.
They released a statement explaining that their energy goals reflect that they "anticipate significant increases in electricity demand from electric vehicles, building electrification, oil and gas production electrification, growth from economic development in the Denver area and new demands from data centers."
As for the energy increase — the company said that the one megawatt of coal-fired generation can power more homes than one megawatt of other types of renewable, which is why they'd need more in the proposal.
Their statement also said, "Our proposal does not include unneeded technology or equipment, but rather what will be needed to serve customers in the coming years."
It continues, "As we make investments important for the safety and reliability of our customers, there is increased cost. We believe new types of demand for service will bring in additional revenue that is shared across all customers, to help keep bills affordable. The Just Transition Solicitation requires two phases, and actual costs will be refined in Phase II."
When the utility company first announced the proposal, it said the move would support the company's goal to be carbon-free by 2050 while also ensuring reliability for customers.
"We want to make sure that what we're doing right now is replacing this coal fired power plant with clean renewable energy. Clean renewable energy that is cost competitive with everything else that we have right now, but we don't want to over build," said Katz.
Katz said it could be as soon as August when the PUC meets next about the proposal, but delays could happen based on what discussions or potential changes to the proposal are made.
CoPIRG is also collecting signatures for a petition to encourage Xcel to consider clean renewable options only for the plant's replacement, and remove gas options.
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