Damned if you do, damned if you don’t — Xcel Energy is finding itself the target of both Marshall Fire insurers and now Boulder politicians, including Gov. Jared Polis on down to county and municipal councilors, for cutting off electricity in the face of 100 mile-per-hour wind gusts. Before we turn to the details of these claims and counterclaims, we need to step back and consider what Brook Manville and Josiah Ober discuss in their illuminating book, “The Civic Bargain.” The continuously renegotiated set of agreements that allow democracy to survive in the face of changing circumstances are the focus of the bargain. Beneath the structural compromises inherent to every democracy  —who gets to vote, who pays taxes, who spends them, and which personal freedoms are guaranteed or constrained — lie the vast, grey corridors of the bureaucratic state.

Down one of those hallways we find public utility commissions (PUCs). Every American state has one. A few are elected, including that of our neighbor New Mexico, while most are appointed following legislative approval of nominated commissioners. Most originated as railroad commissions and then expanded to include so-called, “natural” monopolies. The economic health, even the survival of pioneer agricultural and mining communities, was intrinsically dependent on access to urban markets connected by railroads. Freight rates could confiscate the fruits of their labor to small farmers and miners, transporting rural profits to the board rooms and shareholders of rail holding companies. Rail commissions were created by legislatures to force a civic bargain that equitably shared earnings between producers and transporters.

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As recently as 1980, the COLOWYO coal company outside Craig decided to construct a nearly 30-mile rail extension from a railhead in town to their mine, thereby saving the expense of hauling ore by truck. A modern loading facility offered both the railroad and the mine substantial operational savings. Upon completion, the railroad demanded an additional several dollars per ton to retrieve deliveries at the loading facility. Since freight rates are calculated by miles served, the Colorado PUC declined to intervene. An enraged COLOWYO coal ran to the legislature for relief. It wasn’t clear the legislature had the authority to interfere — the responsibility for reaching an agreement likely lay with the mine operator. A revision of its civic bargain was required.

PUCs are not a perfect mechanism for assuring fairness. Anyone close to the rate-setting process understands two agreements must be reached — one on behalf of the utility, assuring a reasonable margin of profit, and another distributing payments across a spectrum of purchasers. When my parents retired to Florida, they discovered their local electric co-op established an agricultural rate just 25% of what it levied against retirees — thereby, creating a hidden subsidy. It took a decade to reverse this favoritism. The larger cost driver is to guarantee monopoly access to a captive market on behalf of a private enterprise. For the most part, this arrangement has proven a more efficient economic model than relying on government management, although I’ve been amused blood-red Republican El Paso County defends its municipal utility with a socialist vengeance.

Returning to Xcel, it’s fair to say Colorado’s largest utility has come a long way since my time in the legislature when attorney Larry O’Donnell, representing Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCO), informed us, “We’re not in the conservation business, we’re in the energy business.” My rejoinder was, “Mr. O’Donnell, so long as you are a regulated monopoly, you will be in whatever business this legislature orders you to be in.” As PSCO’s corporate successor, Xcel has emerged as a national leader for installing renewable generation and Colorado’s electric rates are just a fraction of those in California. I brought your attention to Pacific Gas & Electric because it is currently in bankruptcy, a collapse created in part by lawsuit settlements for wildfires sparked from their dilapidated transmission lines.

Utilities have deep pockets, to be sure. Xcel reports $64 billion in assets across a half-dozen states and more than $10 billion in earnings last year. Little wonder they find themselves targets for losses incurred during the Marshall Fire and not the handful of hippie communards deemed primarily responsible. Yes, they can afford to pay whatever damages can be proven to be their responsibility, but Xcel cannot be expected to serve as a piggy bank for every wildfire loss that afflicts Colorado in a warming world. Nor should they, because, ultimately, we all pay for dubious losses through rising electric rates. Prudent denial of service during windstorms should be lauded by elected officials. It was, is and will be the right thing to do going forward. I’m sorry about the defrosted groceries, and I’m willing to pay another 25 cents a month to establish a fund to help those who really need help. Spare me lamentations regarding inconvenience to those in million-dollar homes.

I happened to visit my barber in Sheridan on that windy afternoon, but her power had been shut off. No whining there. They were using the interruption to clean their floors. I drove to a salon she told me had power. My haircut cost an extra $8 dollars. No matter how hard I try, I can’t see why Xcel owes me a nickel of that expense. Emergencies are never as costly as disasters, and Mother Nature isn’t prone to apology in any case.

Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and a former Colorado legislator.