CO PUC will electrify you

Editor:

Your state congressman, Larry Don Suckla, delivered a letter this month to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission urging the commissioners to reverse their latest electrification mandate.

Why?

On Dec. 1, the Colorado PUC mandated a “Clean Heat” framework, requiring natural gas utilities to cut carbon emissions 41% within 10 years and 100% by 2050.

What does that mean for you?

If you heat your home with natural gas, shower with hot water, dry your clothes and cook on a gas stove, all must be removed and replaced by electric appliances.

We are curious that this mandate does not affect users of propane gas. Does propane not impact carbonization? Or is it unmanageable for the state government to control?

The cost to the average homeowner to convert to all electricity is estimated to be between $30,000 and $70,000 and users can expect double the monthly utility bills to do the above with electricity versus gas. 

This month Xcel Energy submitted an annual 9.93% rate increase for homes and a 9.48% increase for small businesses. Xcel Energy projects grid modernization capital expenditures of at least $22 billion for new transmission lines, poles, transformers, substations and increased electric production via “renewables.” This for only one third of the 1.8 million Colorado households using gas. These expenditures are passed on to you, the consumer, through rate increases.

Think about the increased costs for goods and services in Colorado. Every commercial building, warehouse, grocery store, hotel and apartment will be passing the conversion cost and rate increases to you. 

This mandate, along with Governor Jared Polis’s “Colorado 2030,” has a target of 100% decarbonization. Colorado is 0.19% of the world’s total carbon emissions. These actions will have zero impact on the global climate.

What will it impact? Construction, real estate and all the related support industries.

Now that the mandate is established, are Colorado home builders and real estate agents negligent if they don’t disclose to potential buyers that the conversion to electricity is imminent?  What is their liability? Every prospective buyer should be given a copy of Colorado HB19-1261 -The Climate Action Plan to Reduce Pollution. This law legally binds statewide greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Potential second homeowners from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana have a choice. They can also choose the resorts of Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho.

What impact will the mandate have on the socio-economic composition in the valley as monthly electric bills skyrocket?  More subsidized housing with the county taxpayers picking up the utility costs?

Electricity has become a rare commodity.

There are 4,000 data centers in the United States, growing to 5,400 within the next year and all are converting to AI and Bitcoin mining. Today, these data centers use 176 terawatt-hours (TWr), and the U.S. Department of Energy projects consumption by data centers to be up to 580 TWr by 2028, equating to 20-25% of energy produced in the USA.

When demand overwhelms supply, prices increase. Simple law of economics.

Now it’s easy to understand why GCEA wants to charge seven times the normal rate for peak hour usage.

It’s just the beginning folks.

Cori Dobson, Gunnison GOP

Neil Watko, Gunnison GOP