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Xcel Energy applied for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) as suggested in my blog a few months ago. Xcel is attempting to recoup SmartGrid costs that are now about three times the original budget estimate (the original budget was $15.3M, and costs are estimated at $44.8M). A rate increase was requested in 2009. Approval of the CPCN is necessary to move on the rate increase for SmartGrid.
I think it is time to stop throwing good money after bad. Xcel has shown they cannot deliver on the promise of SmartGrid. Only 43% of the meters in Boulder are converted to the Landis and Gyr (L&G) Focus meter, and customers have found that real-time energy data is not readily available through the Xcel “My Account” website.
Xcel officials claim the extent of the costs could not be fully known before contruction began on the first large scale test of its kind! However, they could have asked or performed some due diligence.
Let’s hope the PUC catches on.

The Sunday Boulder Camera (Feb 21) published a pointed commentary by Anne Butterfield about Xcel’s Smart Grid City. I agree with Anne and the PUC that a certificate of public convenience and necessity is needed to convey to the public if there is some substance to all the SGC hype.
I attended two presentations by Xcel that provided much hype for a smart grid system, but delivered little insight into deliverables. Most of the presentation was pie in the sky talk about shaving peaks with electric vehicle battery storage, and controlling a customer’s thermostat. The only realistic near-term advantage of the SGC is that of monitoring voltage at the customer’s service and locating outages without relying on telephone messages from the customer. This is a huge advantage for Xcel – reduce truck rolls for outages or problems on the customer’s side of the meter.
I worked for Xcel for 8 years on their control and data acquisition systems (SCADA), and in planning department. I have a pretty good idea what is driving them. Xcel management realizes they can use this SGC hype to get money for capital investments for their needs, and worry about deliverables later. However, the “cutting edge technology” excuse for delay and cost overrun is getting thin.
I have 7 smart monitoring systems online and operating, compared to 8 for Xcel! My systems cost only a few thousand dollars instead of millions, but I don’t have the hype!

Xcel announced the REC portion of the renewable energy rebate has decreased from $1.50 to $.85 effective December 2, 2009.
The total rebate and REC from Xcel is now $2.85 per watt ($2.00 rebate and $0.85 REC). The reasons behind the decrease is the small (<10 kw) program has filled up, and prices for equipment (i.e. PV panels) has decreased significantly in the past few months.
This means that the total rebate and REC for a 10kw system decreases from $35,000 to $28,500.

Xcel offers Rollover Credit for Excess Energy
The good news from Xcel’s meeting with COSEIA last week is the announcement of a rollover option for Solar electric customers. Customers can sign up for this plan in September, and roll over any excess energy generated by the end of the year (December 31) into 2010. This means instead of selling the excess to Xcel a the end of the year for about 4.8 cents/kwh, customers can use this excess energy in January and February when solar generation does not meet usage. Using energy at 9.7 cents per kwh instead of selling at 4.8 cents per kwh makes financial sense to customers keen on system payback.