Early closure of Pueblo coal plant could force Xcel customers to pay up to $89M for water it doesn’t need – By Mark Jaffe (Colorado Sun) / Aug 7, 2023
Customers of the state’s largest utility also are responsible for debt service on $27 million spent on never used southeastern Colorado ditch rights
Pueblo Water has an offer that Xcel Energy can’t refuse. Actually, it’s more of a contract than an offer, requiring the utility to pay for 12,783 acre-feet of water every year for its coal-fired Comanche Generation Station even if it doesn’t use it.
Since 2010, the “take-or-pay” contract has cost Xcel Energy customers almost $13 million for water never used by the plant in making electricity, and customers could be on the hook for as much as another $89 million for unused water.
Those are the estimates of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission staff. Xcel Energy’s subsidiary Public Service Company of Colorado filed testimony with the PUC saying that it took more water than the staff estimated, but it still tallied approximately $6.4 million in excess water charges.
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