“Denver, CO — Today the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) declined to approve much of Xcel Energy’s Gas Infrastructure Plan (GIP), which lays out the utility’s forecasted investments in methane gas infrastructure over the coming years. The PUC largely agreed with environmental groups that Xcel must consider alternatives that better promote affordability and meet Colorado’s clean energy goals.
Xcel requested approval of a plan to spend $2.9 billion on its methane gas pipeline system from 2025-2030 and to charge customers for this infrastructure for decades to come. The PUC rejected many of Xcel’s requests for approval of its proposed gas infrastructure project budgets…
The PUC adopted proposals from several public interest groups that included better aligning gas system forecasts with state decarbonization policy, a cost-saving non-pipeline alternative program to offer electrification incentives for customers whose gas service lines Xcel plans to replace, which the Commission directed Xcel to propose in its upcoming Clean Heat Plan, and using an expert-developed tool to identify the best opportunities for non-pipeline alternatives.”
In November 2025, CEG provided direct testimony on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Rewiring America, Sierra Club, Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, and Western Resource Advocates, which jointly intervened in the GIP as the Conservation Advocates. The direct testimony of Meera Fickling 1) analyzed Xcel Energy’s NPA cost-benefit analysis (CBA) models for three capacity expansion projects: the Ute Highway Reinforcement, the F-866 Reinforcement, and the F-715 Reinforcement, and presented alternative CBA model results to correct identified deficiencies; and 2) reviewed Xcel’s safety investments and examined the potential for the utility to analyze and implement NPAs for those investments. The direct testimony of Justin Brant analyzed Xcel Energy’s Design Day temperature methodology, the Speer Canal Project, and the incorporation of discrete New Business requests into its hydraulic modeling and forecasts, and presented recommendations to the Commission for each of these components.