2019 is going to be a busy year, full of productive change and community involvement in shaping our energy future. Here is some good news to get the year started off right!
Colorado 2019 Legislative Session
There are a number of energy bills that Clean Energy Action is looking forward to seeing work their way through the Colorado Legislature in 2019.
Our most anticipated pieces of legislation involve and include: Putting health and safety first with respect to natural gas production, setting greenhouse gas reduction goals, and using the re-authorization of the Public Utilities Commission as a chance to critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the commission.
It is going to be a busy session! For more info on these pieces of legislation, as well as many more bills we are hoping to see, (and some we hope not to see) click HERE
New Public Utilities Commissioner Named
John Gavan has been selected to join the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) as Wendy Moser's term ends. Gavan was the "
consensus choice" of both Govenors Hickenlooper and Polis.
John Gavan sits on the Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA) in western Colorado. That group recently filed a complaint to the Colorado PUC requesting that the commission
"exercise its jurisdiction over Tri-State as a public utility" and "establish an exit charge that is just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory" as the DMEA works to terminate its contract with Tri-State and move towards local and renewable sources of energy.
City of Boulder Finds That Renewable Energy Will Save Rate Payers Money
The city of Boulder issued a Request for Indicative Pricing regarding the future energy portfolio of Boulder, and shared their findings in December. The goal of the request was to get pricing information on a variety of future scenarios regarding Boulder's municipalization of its electricity grid.
The scenarios included maintaining Xcel as the sole energy provider, a gradual transition away from Xcel, a "High Renewables" portfolio from day one of municipalization, and a '100% Renewable by 2030' portfolio.
The request found that all options involving a move away from Xcel would save rate payers at least 24%, with a scenarioinvolving 89% renewables
by 2024 saving 33%!
This shows that not only is an aggressively renewable energy portfolio for Boulder a possibility, it is cheaper for rate payers as well!
What We're Reading?
In rural Colorado, communities served by
Tri-State Generation and Transmission (TSGT) are starting to ask for more freedom to pursue locally-generated renewable energy and keep utility costs down. Here are three stories that provide more information:
While CEA often has a different perspective on political matters than the Independence Institute, we are pleased to see the Independence Institute writing very positively about the future of microgrids and including many useful links to background information. Click HERE to see one of the 5 blogs on microgrids they've written in recent months, from which you can access the others.
