Xcel doesn’t need another rate increase

Re: “Xcel Energy seeks another rate increase from the PUC,” July 6 news story

Xcel has proposed the largest rate increase in anyone’s memory — $343 million — and if you add in the effect of two percentage-based riders calculated off the rate, it will be a several million dollars more — per year, every year going forward.

Yet in 2020, Xcel-colorado had $588 million in “after-tax-net income.” Xcel talks about how much money they have spent, but if you spend that money and have $588 million in income left over, you probably don’t need a rate increase.

The Public Utilities Commission just spent most of 2019 and early 2020 reviewing Xcel’s previous rate increase request and reducing it very substantially.

Now less than 18 months later,

Xcel is back at the PUC with their hand out for more annual revenue — making the filing late in the day before the 4th of July break.

Rate cases are expensive to review. Xcel’s customers generally pay those expenses for Xcel … like tying your own noose! Everyone else spends many tens of thousands of dollars on rate case legal and expert witness fees.

Moreover, Xcel has recognized that the big coal plant in Pueblo that they call “Comanche 3” was a mistake and have proposed that future ratepayers pay off that mistake with “securitization.” Talk about privatizing the profits and socializing the risks.

In the meantime, communities around Colorado are finding that when they can go “out to market,” they can often get cleaner electricity at a lower cost.

It seems it may be past time to see if Colorado is really well served by Xcel’s monopoly.

Leslie Glustrom,