Please attend Xcel's rate case hearing on Wednesday, January 19th from 4pm to 6pm and tell the PUC commissioners that Xcel doesn't need any more profits! They are asking for a $182 million base rate increase (settlement agreement, item 22 on page 9) even though they already have after-tax profits of over half a billion dollars a year and the increase in profits far outstrip the energy sold. Sign up to provide public comments HERE with talking points and relevant documents below.
Excessive Profits and Rate Increases! Xcel's after-tax profits in 2020 being over $588 million (Slide 66 in the this EEI PPT) - they may want a rate increase, but they don't really need one! (The proposed Settlement Agreement before the PUC calls for a net rate base increase of $182 million - the highest single rate case increase ever seen! See Xcel's Profits and Rate Increase Slides.
Paying for Pueblo Unit 3 - with Full Profits for Xcel! We have been paying 100% return of (depreciation) and return on (profits) for Pueblo Unit 3 but we are getting a lot less than 100% of its previously projected production and it was always a terrible idea anyways. This is an abuse of Xcel's Colorado ratepayers and the PUC should be correcting this abuse as called for in CRS 40-3-102. It is beyond unconscionable for us to be paying for coal burning now when over 1000 of our neighbors have had their homes incinerated by the hot, dry, climate driven conditions in December! Beyond that, there are millions of people suffering around the world because of our carbon and methane emissions. We shouldn't be paying for these! Even if Xcel backs down the operation of Pueblo Unit 3, they want to keep earning their full level of profits on Pueblo Unit 3 into the 2030s - way beyond unconscionable.
Paying for a Fossil Fuel Dominated System! While Xcel is moving in the right direction, they are still over 50% fossil fuel generation - this is, again, unconscionable given the abundant, low-cost wind and solar available in Colorado. The PUC is supposed to make sure that Xcel's facilities promote public health and safety (CRS 40-3-101 (2)). Clearly Xcel's Colorado system is not good for public health and safety. We shouldn't have to pay for such dirty and expensive generation any longer - again, this is an abuse that needs to be corrected!
$9.9 Billion in Spending by Xcel in Colorado Over the Next 5 Years - HELP! Xcel wants to spend over $9.9 billion in Colorado (slide 69 in EEI PPT) over the next decade. This is likely to be close to catastrophic for our bills. The PUC should be exercising very strong control over Xcel and its spending to ensure that it doesn't keep driving our bills and their profits up at a time when the cost of carbon-free alternatives keeps dropping (life under a monopoly)!