Eying local utility, Boulder offers $94M for Xcel assets

BOULDER — Boulder officials have offered to pay Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE:XEL) a sum of $94 million to buy the firm’s assets in the city’s latest attempt to form a locally controlled municipal electricity utility.

“The offer is the first step in the city’s acquisition process that will result in a key variable: the cost to purchase some of the electric system from Xcel Energy,” according to a Boulder news release. “The city anticipates that the acquisition process, which may involve a condemnation proceeding, will continue through next year.”

For a half-decade, Boulder has sought to bring the city’s electric utility under local control. 

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In 2014, Boulder City Council members passed an ordinance establishing the groundwork for such a project, but a prolonged legal battle challenging the legality of such a move soon ensued. This summer, city leaders repealed that ordinance in order to settle a lawsuit with Xcel. 

The $94 million offer for Xcel’s Boulder assets, made by the city earlier this week, comes less than a month after Colorado Public Utilities Commission ruling paved the way for the asset transfer. 

“We’ve made an offer that we hope Xcel will seriously consider,” Boulder city attorney Tom Carr said in a prepared statement.

This new offer is not the first of its kind. Boulder has made offers earlier this to buy Xcel’s assets for $68.5 million and $82 million. The utility did not respond to those offers.

If Xcel accepts the most recent offer, or provides a counteroffer, the parties will begin negotiations. If negotiations fail to materialize, Boulder will once again file to condemn Xcel’s assets within the city in order to prod the municipalization process forward.

Xcel did not respond to a request for comment Friday morning.