Boulder, Colorado Voters Approve Green Municipal Utility
Boulder, Colorado voters gave the city authority yesterday to form a green municipalutility, replacing Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, one of the nation's largest electric utilities, with a municipal power authority intended to deliver energy from greener, more local sources, and also passed a companion measure to fund its preparation. Local Power Inc. (localpower.com) consulted for the City on the unique policy focus of "Boulder Energy Future" – the economic and technical feasibility of energy localization using renewables and efficiency in Boulder – under a municipal utility vs. under a status quo scenario.
Boulder Ballot item 2C, allowing the city to develop a municipal utility and issue bonds, passed with 51.78 percent of the vote. The companion item 2B for a utility occupation tax to temporarily raise $1.9 million a year to pay for the planning and legal costs, also passed with 50.27 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results posted this morning.
The key vote, on Ballot Measure 2C provides that the City now has "the authority to establish, acquire, erect, maintain, and operate, by any lawful means, a municipal light and power utility with programs and improvements that include without limitation generation plants, renewable energy, energy conservation, and distribution systems, with all necessary powers appurtenant thereto if the city council determines that it can acquire the electrical distribution system in Boulder and charge rates that do not exceed those rates charged by Xcel Energy at the time of acquisition and that such rates will produce revenues sufficient to pay for operating expenses and debt payments…and with the reliability comparable to Xcel Energy and a plan for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants and increased renewable energy," among other things.
For more information, contact Paul Fenn, President of Local Power Inc., at (510) 451-1727×2 or paulfenn@localpower.com.
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President of Local Power Inc.
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