CU-Boulder asks PUC to issue stay on city’s motion to supplement utility application

BOULDER — The University of Colorado on Friday afternoon filed an expedited motion with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission seeking for the PUC to delay a request by the city of Boulder to amend its application and set a discovery period in the city’s municipalization case.

CU, an intervenor in Boulder’s case to create a municipal electric utility, states that it would be unnecessary for parties in the proceeding to enter into discovery and disclose potentially sensitive information when it remains unclear whether the PUC will even consider Boulder’s application in the first place.

Boulder filed its application with the PUC over the summer, proposing its plan for acquiring the Xcel Energy assets needed to form an electric utility, as well as plans for interconnecting with Xcel’s system. Xcel in August filed a motion to dismiss the city’s application, arguing that it was incomplete and that the city’s plan didn’t comply with the doctrine of regulated monopoly. It’s expected to be mid to late October before the PUC rules on Xcel’s motion to dismiss.

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But on Sept. 23, the city had also filed a motion to supplement its application with other alternative options for interconnecting the city’s and Xcel’s systems. Along with that filing was a request for a 60-day discovery period in which the city would gather information from Xcel that would help flesh out the various options. Responses to that motion from Xcel and other intervenors are due Wednesday, meaning it’s possible that the PUC could grant Boulder’s discovery request before it decides on Xcel’s motion to dismiss.

In CU’s motion filed Friday, attorneys for the school wrote, “Because the commission’s determination on the motion to dismiss has the potential to moot any decision on Boulder’s September 23 motion, compelling circumstances exist to warrant staying consideration of the merits of that motion, particularly with respect to determining an appropriate discovery process in this proceeding, pending a decision on the motion to dismiss.”

CU’s attorneys went on to request that responses to the school’s motion be due today and that the PUC consider the motion at its weekly Wednesday meeting.

CU’s attorneys stated that other intervenors, including IBM Corp., support the school’s motion. Specifically, IBM’s support, according to the CU filing, is centered around privacy issues and the possibility that “highly confidential customer data” might have to be disclosed by Xcel during the discovery period that the city is requesting.

“The outcome of the pending Motion to Dismiss stands to impact not only the scope of information to be exchanged but the very need for such a process,” CU’s attorneys quote IBM officials as stating.

The school’s attorneys note that the city opposes CU’s motion in part due to the expedited response time that CU is requesting. City officials noted in communication with CU that they would attempt to file a response today.

“This is simply a filing that addresses the process going forward,” city spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said in an email. “The PUC has asked parties in this case to file briefs on several outstanding, but related legal issues.  CU has proposed a process for deciding these issues that would delay the resolution.  The city will propose an alternative approach.”