As a national leader in the transition to clean energy, Colorado serves as a model for states across the country. Our electric system is experiencing significant change in the midst of the clean energy transition. That includes new energy sources like wind and solar that bring more complex dynamics, customers’ changing electric use due to the pandemic, power generation at customer homes and businesses, and the growth of electric vehicles. This evolution makes transparency around the state’s energy needs and the energy resources to supply those needs even more critical in our ability to reliably serve our customers day in and day out. That’s why, working with other energy companies in Colorado, Xcel Energy is supporting legislative action to enable visibility into energy needs statewide. 

Utilities carry a heavy responsibility – to power our customers’ lives reliably, affordably and sustainably. We have the honor to provide an essential service to all our customers, and the expectation of our performance is evaluated through a lens of perfection. That is a high bar for any business.

In my role as president of Xcel Energy-Colorado, I see exciting innovations happening in both energy generation and state energy policy every day. Xcel Energy leads the nation in the actions we are taking to reduce our carbon footprint. The company’s carbon emissions from electricity fell 47% in Colorado between 2005 and 2021, well on the way to an anticipated 87% reduction by 2030. Transitioning to carbon-free energy sources like wind and solar plays a huge part in that success. Today, Colorado is sixth in the nation for the amount of renewable energy delivered to customers at a cost that is the fourth lowest in the nation as a portion of customers’ overall spending.

Alongside this exciting transition, we can’t ignore how new variable sources of electricity affect electric grid operations and our obligation to provide reliable and safe electricity at an affordable price. We’re proud of Xcel Energy’s 99.98% grid reliability and our Colorado system’s strong performance record in delivering energy to our customers. 

In the electric industry, an important measure we pay attention to is resource adequacy – having enough electricity supply installed or contracted to reliably serve all our customers with the energy they need, when they need it, every hour of every day of the year.

Planning for the energy our communities need today is no longer a simple spreadsheet exercise. Now, planners calculate thousands of scenarios each day that combine variables like weather, energy production, and customer usage.

Adding to the complexity of balancing the grid is the undeniable impacts of climate-driven extreme weather. Those extreme weather events take a toll on electric infrastructure just when customers need it most. In the last 20 years, Colorado has seen a 300% increase in major disasters with impacts of more than $1 billion in damage – 45 wildfires, summer and winter storms, floods and periods of drought, according to a study from insurance marketplace QuoteWizard.

With all of these factors in play, the General Assembly should require that all utilities in Colorado report energy resources they will need to reliably serve customers as our energy grid transitions to include more variables in energy production and demand. It’s a straight-forward concept, but there is no structure currently in Colorado that requires all utilities to plan in this way or commit to a hard number. This is the first of many steps that can be taken to ensure we can continue to meet our communities’ energy needs. Armed with common-sense reporting, state leaders can get ahead of this issue now. 

Alice K. Jackson is president of Xcel Energy – Colorado.