Xcel seeks to have you, its captive customer, pay for EV chargers. Public pillorying of health insurers is canceled, for now.
Xcel Energy, already a monopoly in Colorado, wants to further increase its monopolistic power by using money it gets from its captive customers to build a series of EV charging stations around Colorado.
As to whether we, the ratepayers who have no choice but to give our business to Xcel, get a say in what gets done with the proceeds of those chargers well ....
The article linked first below details a plan in the works by Xcel to enter the EV charger game by building a series of charging stations around the state of Colorado. It also details concerns some have over that.
Xcel says that they plan on only (only mind you, seriously guys) trying to build chargers in the places that private businesses wouldn't touch. Quoting the article,
"Xcel counters that its network will provide needed charging infrastructure to rural and other areas that are unlikely to see local investment in public charging stations. 'We're really targeting and focusing on rural areas and urban areas, particularly including those spots that non-regulated entities, developers won't serve, or historically there's not enough utilization to make it work for their business model,' El Mallakh said."
Xcel also seems to be optimistic that the investment will pay for itself over time, though they didn't get a rough timetable for that.
Know what they also left out? Whether or not any proceeds go directly back to the company or to ratepayers.
Look, if a private company wanted to invest or not in a charging station, it's their business. It's their money and they run the risk. Xcel, however, is not a private company. Not in the traditional sense of the word. Yes, they have owners. Yes they have stock shares.
But, and this is a big one, they do not have to fight for customers like any other business. They are the only game in town; every apartment and house I've lived in, I had the choice of buying electricity and gas from Xcel and ... Xcel.
This critical detail makes this whole situation different from a private company deciding what to do with its money and where. Xcel operates under a whole different incentive structure than other companies.
If Joe's Chargers makes a foolish choice, Joe's chargers risks being out of business. They have to carefully weigh each and every cent they put out there. If Xcel screws up, they needn't go to their shareholders and say "oops, we need more money guys". They go back to us and ask for more.
Put simply, there's nothing that drives risky and thoughtless like gambling with others' money.
What I ask for here is consistency and transparency.
If Xcel wants to enter the building chargers game, I want...
--To know where they plan to put them
--The money it will take
--How much of their own money they'll risk
--A realistic estimate on payback (and let's please all remember that if you're building in an area "for the children" where there isn't much interest by private companies, there's a reason for that and the reason is the demand isn't there yet and so they'll take a while to pay for themselves there)
--Evidence from private companies that they're not at all interested in building there
--And lastly, what they plan to do with the profits realized after the chargers do pay for themselves
Give us that Xcel, and then we'll talk. Unless and until, stay out of the private market unless you plan on using only your own money.
https://denvergazette.com/news/business/xcel-proposing-to-build-company-owned-ev-charging-network/article_a97b9606-fcbb-11ed-9542-c7879af920fd.html
The pillorying of health insurers in Colorado is canceled. For now.
Let me quote the Sun article linked first below:
"Yesterday was supposed to be the day when the curtain lifted on the most momentous showdown yet for Gov. Jared Polis’ health policy initiatives — when hospitals and insurance companies would have gotten hauled into a public hearing to explain why their prices aren’t lower."
There should have been a (legally mandated) public struggle session where the insurers, unable to meet the (again, legally mandated) price reductions publicly explain why they weren't in line with true socialism.
Oops, that last bit was my being tongue in cheek, the real hearings would have had the insurers and hospitals explain why they couldn't hit the targets and then be slapped hard by regulators which would told the companies how much profits they could keep or told them how much they could spend on overhead, etc.
See? Tongue in cheek but not far off.
The hearing that was to be got canceled. Had it gone on, the unelected (and Polis appointed) Commissioner of Insurance Michael Conway would have sat in the chair as judge, deciding what prices are fair, deciding whether or not the insurers were sufficiently committed to lower prices, deciding how much they can keep of the money they make.**
Cigna, who had the first turn in the barrel, didn't get a hearing, however, because they settled. The speculation was that other organizations would likely reach settlements too.
Regardless of whether or not these hearings are fair or a good idea, they are a chance to speak up.
I do not intend to let my chance to do so pass by. I know nothing from the insurance business, but I do know what capitalism and fairness are. I intend to be on the call and ask the usual "is this the proper role of government?" kind of quesitons.
I signed up for today's hearing late last week (at the same time I wrote this post). By the time you read this I'll either be at the hearing or it will have been canceled. If it's canceled, I will sign up for subsequent hearings.
If you'd like to join me, the sign up link to public comment sessions is linked second below.
**In case you remember this name and an earlier post of mine, you'll remember that Conway is most assuredly NOT impartial about the Colorado Option. How is this a fair process you ask? Conway says there are "administrative firewalls" in the process to keep things fair. Right. To see why I'm skeptical, check the third link below.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/06/07/colorado-option-health-insurance-public-hearing/
https://doi.colorado.gov/insurance-products/health-insurance/health-insurance-initiatives/colorado-option/colorado-option?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
https://coloradosun.com/2022/12/02/colorado-option-insurance-connect-for-health/
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Xcel tried this charger scheme in Minnesota and it went over like a turd in the punchbowl: when the Minnesota Xcel Energy didn't get as much money from customers as they thought they might (i.e. when they might have to gamble with their own money), they balked and withdrew the plan.
https://denvergazette.com/news/business/xcel-ev-charging-network-plan-blows-a-fuse-in-minnesota/article_644b67d2-03e1-11ee-a094-4bfc9ac6072a.html?utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social