Utilities uncertain as new EPA regulations loom

Even as electric utilities operating in Northern Colorado express confidence about meeting the state’s mandated renewable-energy standards by 2020, plenty of uncertainty looms as the Environmental Protection Agency gets set to unveil national carbon-reduction goals this summer.

In some ways, Colorado is leading the pack in requiring that investor-owned utilities such as Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) achieve 30 percent of their sales from renewable sources, large cooperatives such as Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. achieve 20 percent, and large municipal providers achieve 10 percent.

But electricity providers in the region surmise that reaching such goals might not…