Tell Xcel Energy and the PUC: We Won't Stand for Attacks on Rooftop Solar!
Xcel Energy, the largest utility in Colorado, is working against the development of rooftop solar with a proposal being made at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
If Xcel Energy is successful, solar owners could see a reduction in the amount they are paid for the electricity produced on their roofs. Xcel's proposal is against solar, against consumers, and slows our ability to reduce dangerous carbon pollution.
Instead of attacking rooftop solar, Xcel Energy ought to be fostering the growth of clean rooftop solar. Coloradans have spoken up time and again, stating rooftop solar is important to Colorado.
It's time that Xcel and our Commissioners hear that message loud and clear: we won't stand by and let Xcel Energy roll back rooftop solar in Colorado.
We, the undersigned, are Colorado electricity customers. We urge Xcel to immediately withdraw its proposal before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to penalize rooftop solar customers who deliver solar electricity to the grid.
Private investment in local solar power delivers numerous financial benefits to all of your customers, even those without solar on their roofs: savings on expensive and polluting conventional power; reduced investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure; reduced electricity lost during transportation over power lines; and savings on the cost of meeting future carbon regulation. Recent independent analysis found that these benefits of net metered power outweigh the costs, with a total net value of between $7 and $11 million per year in Xcel Energy's Colorado territory.
Your proposal significantly undervalues rooftop solar power at the expense of your own customers. We urge Xcel to stop trying to stifle rooftop solar. Instead, it's time to innovate your business model to make room for customer participation in our energy marketplace.
Please withdraw the net metering rollback plan in docket 13A-0836E at the PUC today.
Cc: Public Utilities Commission Chairman Joshua Epel, Commissioner Pamela Patton and Commissioner James Tarpey
