Dive Brief:

• The city of Boulder, Colorado is asking the state's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to reconsider its "overly broad" ruling in October regarding the city's ambition to form a municipal utility and acquire through condemnation the transmission and distribution assets of Xcel Energy.
• On Oct. 29, the PUC said that if Boulder wants to acquire the Xcel assets it would have to prove that the utility is unable or unwilling to serve its customers. Xcel called the PUC ruling a victory.
• "The argument that the city makes today is that there are constitutional and statutory provisions that make it clear that the city gets to decide what assets it can acquire," Boulder spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said.   

Dive Insight: 

The tussle between Bolder and Xcel is moving into its third year. Voters in 2011 approved creation of a municipal utility as well as higher taxes to make it a reality. But at a time of flat or declining power demand, it is no wonder that Xcel would not want to lose the revenue from its Boulder customers.