Colorado regulators pushed back on plans by the state’s largest power provider to spend nearly $600 million on gas infrastructure, saying the investments don’t account for a trend towards electrification and could leave ratepayers with unnecessary costs on redundant equipment.
Xcel Energy had sought a sweeping set of investments to expand its natural gas network, including pipelines and compressor stations. The $567 million request — which Xcel had proposed to be covered by ratepayer funds — is part of a broader spending plan of nearly $3 billion in infrastructure by the end of the decade.
But those planned investments also come as the company is complying with a first-in-the-nation state law designed to wean homeowners and businesses off fossil fuel infrastructure. The Clean Heat Plan requires state gas utilities to cut emissions 22 percent by 2030, compared to 2015 levels, in part by investing in energy efficiency and electric appliances.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission rapped Xcel for not doing enough to consider how the electrification policy might reduce the need for new gas infrastructure. In a 92-page ruling issued earlier this month, commissioners wrote that the company appeared to be requesting ratepayer funds for both a future with more gas and more electrification, potentially leaving customers on the hook for redundant construction.
