Dive Brief:

• Responding to an open-records request filed by a resident, the city of Boulder has released a cash-flow analysis of its municpalization plans that shows steep power cost increases in the early years.
• A judge refused to direct the city to release software which went into developing the city's models, however, as software is not public record in Colorado.
• The city is currently involved in a condemnation lawsuit against Xcel Energy, the incumbent utility.

Dive Insight:

Utility and financial data released by Boulder shows hefty power price increases in the first three years of municipal utility operations, during the period the city would be taking on debt payments. That data was published Monday by the city following an open-records request by Boulder resident Patrick Murphy.

Murphy asked for more detail, but Daily Camera reports the judge refused. The city's financial and utility data were developed by multiple software programs, and software is not a matter of public record in Colorado.

The city issued a statement saying "it is clear that much of the information that Mr. Murphy sought is not public record, and the city has already released what was required of it with regard to the modeling process."

Boulder said it is preparing a more detailed explanation about what the financial analysis "does and does not represent. The release of the software composing the model – software that is proprietary in nature – would likely exacerbate this confusion and could potentially harm both the privacy of certain customers and the city’s litigation strategy."

In 2013, two-thirds of Boulder voters supported a ballot measure setting a limit of $214 million on the cost of acquiring Xcel's transmission and distribution assets within the city limits. In that same election voters rejected a ballot measure backed by Xcel Energy that was designed to thwart efforts by the city to establish a municipal electric utility.