Dive Brief:
- Xcel Energy has proposed closed-door negotiations about the purchase of Colorado Springs Utilities’ electric division, which includes the coal-fired Martin Drake and Ray Nixon plants, Colorado Spring's natural gas plant, its hydroelectric facilities and its backup generators.
- In April 2013, Colorado Springs’ seven-member Utilities Policy Advisory Committee recommended spending $500,000 to hire NewGen Project Management to study the sale or lease of the city's electric assets but the Colorado Springs City Council, which serves as the city’s Utilities Board, decisively declined the advice. A City Council member said the same response is likely at the upcoming July 16 utilities board meeting.
- The advisory committee’s recommendation was a response to an ongoing community discussion about Colorado Springs "getting out of the utilities business" during the 2013 City Council election.
Dive Insight:
In 2013, the newly elected council members voted unanimously to dismiss NewGen Project Management and declared it was opposed to selling or leasing any division of the city's utilities.
Xcel Energy, a privately traded investor-owned utility, provides electricity and natural gas in eight states and, in Colorado, has 1.4 million electricity customers and 1.3 million natural gas customers.
Colorado Springs residents have advocated for the closure of the coal-fired Drake plant, which is located in the city’s downtown, in favor of a newer facility that would help Colorado meet EPA pollution and emissions targets.
A sale of the city’s utilities would require voter approval and public sentiment seems to favor retaining control of rates and other energy supply decisions.
