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What's that? Xcel to argue against coal

Gargi Chakrabarty, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 17, 2007 at midnight

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It will be an odd day Wednesday at the Public Utilities Commission, the state agency that regulates utilities.

Xcel Energy, which largely depends on coal for electricity, will argue against coal as the cheapest fuel for future power needs. The PUC staff will counter that the utility could be wrong.

"From the staff perspective, there will be two things," explained PUC spokesman Terry Bote. "They are requesting a hearing before the commission that will affirm that Xcel is right, and that coal is not the least-cost resource.

"But if it is found that Xcel is wrong, then the PUC staff will ask the commission for remedies, and that could include asking Xcel to negotiate a contract with a bidder to build a coal-fired power plant."

The PUC staff's position has many critics, including consumer group Ratepayers United of Colorado, which supports Xcel's decision not to build another coal-fired plant. The group is concerned about emissions from coal-fired plants, believed to cause global warming.

"It is ironic that our state government bureaucracy is proposing such at a time when the public and our government leaders are becoming increasingly aware of the threat of climate change and necessity to take action to thwart it," said Gina Hardin, the group's attorney.

The issue at hand is Xcel's power supply situation in 2013. The utility would need a total of 896 megawatts that year. One megawatt serves the electricity needs of roughly 1,000 customers.

Xcel had said previously that it would contract with a private bidder to build a coal-fired plant to meet the need because coal is the cheapest fuel for electricity. But earlier this year, Xcel said a different analysis concluded that in some cases, natural gas could be the cheapest fuel, so it stopped considering the coal bids.

To meet the need in 2013, Xcel says it could renew natural gas-fueled power supply contracts for 465 megawatts and wait until later this year to figure how to supply the remaining 431 megawatts - possibly by burning natural gas or using wind or solar power.

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