Ugh. I want to tweet this Xcel update even less than I wanted to tweet the Rez public hearing.
Staff presentation: documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…
Staff presentation: documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…
Basically it's just an update on all the work that's been done, and will be done coming up.
Top 3:
Community Advisory Panel will recommend projects for Xcel/city to partner on by mid-2022
First undergrounding project (paid by Xcel) underway on north Broadway; second will be 29th street
Community Advisory Panel will recommend projects for Xcel/city to partner on by mid-2022
First undergrounding project (paid by Xcel) underway on north Broadway; second will be 29th street
Reminder: Undergrounding is burying power lines, so they are less vulnerable to wind, storms, downed trees, etc. which = fewer outages
Those two areas were chosen in part bc the city is already digging up the roads there for other work.
Third big takeaway is that the city is considering buying streetlights from Xcel, which owns the ones in Boulder, so they can be converted to LED.
Xcel did this for cities that were its customers, but Boulder wasn't for the past 10 yrs.
Xcel did this for cities that were its customers, but Boulder wasn't for the past 10 yrs.
Only 60% of Boulder's streetlights could be converted by Xcel bc of their style. And the city wouldn't save any $$ bc of the way Xcel charges rates for streetlights.
Boulder joined other cities to sue Xcel through state regulators over those rates.
Settlement reached in May 2021; creates pathway for cities to acquire streetlights
Settlement reached in May 2021; creates pathway for cities to acquire streetlights
“The changes allow for a simpler, and substantially lower-cost, separation design to be temporarily implemented so that municipalities can immediately start to realize savings through the much lower energy-only tariff”
Cost estimate will be presented to council in early 2022
But there's already a rough one out there, written into the CCS tax extension on ballots this fall. $5M boulderbeat.news/2021/09/21/com…
OK, 4th big takeaway from this is that Xcel and Boulder's franchise agreement was finally OK'd by the state, 9 months after it was submitted. Which means our settlement and partnership agreement was OK'd, too.
RE: what projects Xcel and the city might work on, there's a list in the presentation I shared earlier. Slide 9. I'll share it again. documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…
These aren't the only projects that might happen, Carolyn Elam says, but they're the ones we're focusing on now/first. Again, the community advisory panel will prioritize these and make recommendations to council next year.
Weaver asks a bunch of qs bc "this is my last crack at it."
No one has any other qs, so he jokes, "I guess this was all for me."
No one has any other qs, so he jokes, "I guess this was all for me."
Yes it was, Sam. Yes it was.
@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!
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