YOU CAN HAVE ANY KIND OF COOKTOP YOU LIKE, SO LONG AS IT’S ELECTRIC: Colorado PUC targets natural gas in forced march to electrification.
So much of the state’s climate policy over the years has been obscured by regulatory jargon and euphemisms— “Clean Energy Plans,” “Clean Heat Plans,” “Beneficial Electrification,” etc. —so allow me to speak frankly about what the PUC just codified and what it means for ratepayers.
A 41 percent reduction in GHG emissions, let alone 100 percent, from the gas distribution network will necessarily require removing customers from the system. There’s simply no other way around it. Utilities like Xcel, Black Hills, and Atmos may be able to nibble around the edges of the target by relying on recovered methane, improved pipeline leak detection and repair, and other non-demand-destroying strategies, but such approaches will not be enough to comply with state law.
This all but guarantees that gas customers around the state will soon face higher utility bills to subsidize households into switching from gas to electric heating and appliances, particularly if the first tranche of Clean Heat Plan proceedings is any guide.
For instance, Black Hills Energy’s “Target Achievement” portfolio, submitted to the PUC to meet the initial 22 percent GHG reduction by 2030 target, was estimated to cost approximately $397 million per year, costs that would inevitably be recouped from captive ratepayers. Similarly, Xcel Energy reported that its modeling found that meeting its 2030 target would cost over $1 billion over five years, a total that well exceeded the 2.5 percent annual cost cap included in the initial clean heat plan statute.
Furthermore, aside from paying more on monthly bills to finance the utility incentive programs designed to encourage electrification, the new 2035 target will inevitably result in significant personal costs for homeowners who agree to make the switch.
I hope to be long gone from Colorado before the worst of the Democrats’ hare-brained schemes kick in. I suspect I wont be alone.
