Government & Politics  April 19, 2017

PUC postpones Boulder’s municipalization hearing but does not dismiss it

BOULDER — The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has decided to not dismiss Boulder’s case to form a municipal public utility, but is pushing back the date of the hearing from when it was scheduled for next week to later this summer.

Motions had been filed by Xcel Energy and IBM to dismiss Boulder’s case without prejudice, meaning it could reapply. The commission also had the option to have Boulder refile its notice, given that its rebuttal filed at the end of March had many changes to its original application.

Frances Koncilija, one of the commissioners on Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission.

But the commissioners decided that would delay Boulder’s attempts to form a municipal utility by too much, given that cities have a right to municipalize.

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“There’s been enough kicking the can down the road,” said Commissioner Frances Koncilja at Wednesday’s hearing.

However, Koncilja did agree that Boulder’s application had gone through changes, and called for the city to amend its application and testimony, only including what would be necessary for the hearing.

“It’s going to make us real crotchety if we get to the hearing and have to parse through each line,” she said.

To give both Boulder and Xcel time to amend and respond, the PUC vacated the eight-day hearing scheduled for April 26. Rather, the hearing will take place later this summer, in order to give Boulder time to decide if it’s going to put any issues on the ballot, which must be decided by Aug. 7.

The PUC will meet next Wednesday to further discuss the case.

 

BOULDER — The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has decided to not dismiss Boulder’s case to form a municipal public utility, but is pushing back the date of the hearing from when it was scheduled for next week to later this summer.

Motions had been filed by Xcel Energy and IBM to dismiss Boulder’s case without prejudice, meaning it could reapply. The commission also had the option to have Boulder refile its notice, given that its rebuttal filed at the end of March had many changes to its original application.

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