Energy, Utilities & Water  November 8, 2016

Boulder releases interactive cost-modeling tool for municipalization

BOULDER — The city of Boulder on Monday released an interactive financial forecast tool that city officials say confirms their long-standing claims that creating a municipal electric utility would save the city millions of dollars and speed up the transition to renewable energy sources versus continuing with Xcel Energy as the local utility.

Along with the tool, the city released its own updated analysis of a city-run electric utility that shows the utility could meet the financial metrics required by the city’s charter.

The city published four different 20-year scenarios using a range of assumptions of variables like operating budget of the utility, annual load growth, interest rates, cost to purchase power, debt service coverage ratio, and the cost to acquire the system from Xcel. The scenarios are compared with Xcel’s expected rates and show various savings over the first 20 years of the utility.

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City officials acknowledge that there are scenarios under which the cost burden of running a utility would be too great, most notably if the city continued to buy power from Xcel for 20 years.

While the city remains in negotiations with Xcel, Boulder officials are also awaiting a decision from the Public Utilities Commission on the city’s application to create a municipal utility.

The new modeling tool is available on the city’s website, where residents can test their own assumptions. The city is also holding an information session on the tool and the city’s own analysis from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at First Presbyterian Church, 1820 15th St.

“The analysis performed in 2013 evaluated several methods of demonstrating that a utility was feasible,” Boulder Energy Sustainability coordinator Yael Gichon said in a news release. “This tool evaluates the cash flows of the utility and more directly meets our immediate needs in terms of assessing the cost effectiveness of a possible local electric utility. It will also be useful in the operations and financial planning of a future city-owned utility.”

BOULDER — The city of Boulder on Monday released an interactive financial forecast tool that city officials say confirms their long-standing claims that creating a municipal electric utility would save the city millions of dollars and speed up the transition to renewable energy sources versus continuing with Xcel Energy as the local utility.

Along with the tool, the city released its own updated analysis of a city-run electric utility that shows the utility could meet the financial metrics required by the city’s charter.

The city published four different 20-year scenarios using a range of assumptions of variables like operating budget of the…

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