Dive Summary:
- In response to the city of Boulder's efforts to take over the local electrical grid, Xcel Energy has backed the Voter Approval of Debt Limits (VADL), a ballot measure up for vote in this November’s election.
- The measure is meant to block the city's effort to buy and operate local transmission and distribution networks from Xcel. It requires the Boulder municipal utility to receive voter approval to take on debt rather than floating bonds to fund the operation, which is standard practice for the majority of municipal utilities. The measure also limits broker fees for processing utility bonds to 1% of proceeds and forces the municipal utility to guarantee its price for the grid system, which it can't do if voter approval is required.
- Many residents support municipalization as a way to accelerate the transition to renewables and deploy smart technologies. Xcel claims that municiplazation is not feasible and has pledged to provide the renewables the Boulder residents demand.
From the article:
"Xcel, an investor-owned utility (IOU) with an obligation to its shareholders, potentially stands to lose significant revenues if the city takes control of operations."
