Dive Brief:
- Voters in Boulder, Colorado, on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure backed by Xcel Energy that was designed to thwart efforts by the city to establish a municipal electric utility. Just 33% of voters supported Question 310, which would require another vote on the amount of debt a municipal utility could have.
- However, 66.5% of Boulder voters did support another ballot measure that sets a limit of $214 million on the cost of acquiring Xcel's transmission and distribution assets within the city limits. Boulder would also pay Xcel for stranded costs such as investments in generation that Boulder would no longer need.
- “We made it really clear that this issue is about our environmental and economic future,” Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum said.
Dive Insight:
If Boulder and Xcel cannot agree on a price for the utility's assets, the Boulder City Council could move to condemn Xcel's substations and distribution system. The city suffered a setback last month when the state Public Utilities Commission said that in order to create a municipal utility, the city would have prove that Xcel is unable or unwilling to serve customers, something Xcel believes is all but impossible.
