Public Hearing Schedule for Xcel Rate Case
May 9th, 2016
The Public Utilities Commission has approved the Public Hearing Notice for the Xcel Energy Rate Case to be included in bills and publicized where ever. We’ve got some notice to get prepared:
Lo and behold, there’s one scheduled for Red Wing!! Thanks for small favors…
What are the issues in the rate case? Check the docket by going HERE TO PUC SEARCH DOCUMENTS PAGE, and search for docket 15-826.
A couple of things you might find interesting, I did, are some of the Direct Testimony filings.
In addition to whining about the grid being only 55% utilized (ummm, yes, we knew it wasn’t needed, but you went ahead and built it and now want us to pay through the nose, or other orifices, for your transmission for market export? ppppppbbbbbbft!), here’s the issue — prices have fallen, the market is down, down, down, and we’re conserving, using less, and so now they want us to pay more to make up for it, oh. Recap: Xcel Energy wants us to pay for the transmission over our land for their private profit, they want us to pay more because we’re using less, and they want us to make up for their poor business decisions… yeah, great idea.
This rate case and rate increase request is in large part transmission driven. Xcel wants to move from cost based rates to formula rates, and they want to shift transmission costs from the Construction Work in Progress recovery that was part of the deal leading to the 2005 Ch 97 – Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell, with transmission perks, CWIP and Transmission Only Companies.
And then there’s the e21 Initiative, Xcel Energy’s effort leading up to the 2015 legislative session, and it seems that with the exception of AARP, only those who signed on to the e21 “Consensus” are allowed to intervene.
Great…
Lo and behold, there’s a public hearing scheduled for Red Wing!! Thanks for small favors… Mark the hearings on your calendar and show up. Before hand, do a little reading!
More Denial of Intervention in Xcel Rate Case
May 3rd, 2016
WOW… can you believe?? It’s not just me, it’s not just denial of Intervention of No CapX 2020. See 20162-118122-01_Denial2_Overland-NoCapX Intervention.
Intervention as a party in this Rate Case is only open to those who sold out to Xcel Energy and it’s “business plan” agenda of e21.
This is the most recent Order in the Xcel Energy Rate Case:
Here are their Intervention Petitions:
To see the full Rate Case docket, go to the PUC’s Search Documents page, and search for Docket 15-826.
And the Order… Dig this, parroting Xcel’s objections:
And this, even worse, as if the interests of the “Clean Energy Organizations” who bought into, stumped for, and sat quietly during the legislative hearings about Xcel Energy‘s e21 Initiative are the same as the interests of SunShare and Institute for Local Self-Reliance – ILSR:
This is SO offensive. There is no consideration that the perspectives are different, only statements that the issues, the concerns, are the same.
The late, great Myer Shark, rate case Intervenor extraordinaire, would spin in his grave at the limitations of participation in this rate case.
Myer Shark, Lawyer Who Fought Utility, Is Dead at 94
In the Matter of the Complaint by Myer Shark, et al …
Xcel’s 2015 Peak Demand
February 21st, 2016
Remember Xcel’s CapX 2020 peak demand projections of 2.49% annual increase? How wrong can they be? And how unjustified was their basis for a Certificate of Need for CapX 2020? And how are they held accountable for those gross misrepresentations? This is why the rate case in progress, PUC Docket 15-826, is so important.
I love it when this happens… Xcel Peak Demand is again DOWN! There’s a trend, and it’s called decreased demand. Demand has yet to exceed the 2007 peak, and now it’s 8 years…
Here’s the Xcel Energy SEC 10-K filed a couple days ago:
Is it any wonder they want to get away from a cost based rate a la their “e21 Initiative” scheme? Particularly now that the bill for CapX 2020 is coming due and their newest rate case (PUC Docket GR-15-826) is now underway?
And the specifics, and note how they inexplicably forecast a 2016 peak of 9,327:
Oh, Xcel, this is long overdue!
February 12th, 2016
Look what just appeared in the inbox:
And here’s what the ALJ in the Xcel Energy rate (PUC Docket GR-15-826) had to say to the Chamber:
2nd Petition for Intervention in Xcel Rate Case
January 25th, 2016
Apparently Judge Oxley did not like the Overland and No CapX 2020 Petition for Intervention in the rate case, late Friday the Order came out. It was denied, without prejudice. And yet interventions for Commercial Group, Suburban Rate Authority, and City of Minneapolis were granted…
… sigh… OK… fine…
Just filed at 12:01 a.m. Monday, January 25, 2016:
These transmission issues being raised about CapX 2020 and the MISO MVP 17 Project Portfolio are so important that I’m going to be persistent.
Here’s the schedule, from the First Prehearing Order:
