Xcel's Colorado solar settlement nets broad support as regulators eye approval next month

Dive Brief:

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission last week held a hearing to consider a broadly-supported solar settlement that calls on Xcel Energy to expand solar access for low-income customers and avoid fixed fees on meters.
The deal calls on Xcel to install almost 20 MW of dedicated low-income rooftop and community solar capacity available beginning 2017 and add 225 MW of solar to the utility's Solar*Connect program.
Post-hearing briefs are due Oct. 28, and solar advocates say they expect approval next month.

Dive Insight:

The PUC is still considering the settlement, announced in August, but advocates say it has broad support and regulators did not raise major concerns at a recent hearing.

“The settlement’s low-income solar provisions really demonstrate Xcel Energy and Colorado’s national leadership on energy access and equity issues,” GRID Alternatives Colorado Executive Director Chuck Watkins said in a statement.

If approved, Xcel will expand low-income customer access to solar energy by by dedicating a portion of its rooftop and community solar garden capacity and Solar*Rewards Program to serve that segment. Other low-income provisions include additional consumer protections, rebates and incentives to reduce bills, expanded job training and efficiency.

“The new programs would reduce the energy cost burden of our most vulnerable ratepayers and generate co-benefits like job training opportunities in the fast-growing renewable energy sector," Watkins said.

The plan adds 225 MW of solar to the utility's Solar*Connect program, which is a green energy rider that will be renamed Renewable*Connect, and provides for development of 105 MW of community solar gardens with capacity set aside for low-income customers.

But the Renewables*Connect program is one area where not everyone is in agreement. Erin Overturf, a senior staff attorney for Western Resource Advocates who helped shape the settlement, expressed doubts over the impact of the green rider program to Utility Dive earlier this year.

“The Renewables*Connect (R*C) program is one of the big things Xcel got in the agreement and but solar advocates still argue the regulated utility is trying to compete in the unregulated market,” Overturf said. “It may in some ways compete with some solar developers’ products but it is also distinguishable in other ways. Only time will tell if customers see value in it.”