Xcel sees lower electric bills as natural-gas prices decline
Xcel Energy residential and small-business customers will see an average decrease of about 10 percent in their electric bills beginning this month because fuel costs to generate power have dropped.
The utility, which serves 1.3 million electric customers in Colorado, said the average residential electric bill will drop from $59.10 this month to $53.23.
Typical small-business customers will see an electric-bill decrease from $94.80 a month to $85.17, according to Xcel.
Xcel filed for the decrease in April and said the rate reduction will last through the end of this year. Company forecasts predict that the price of natural gas – a key fuel used in power generation – should be lower for the rest of the year. Xcel passes fuel costs directly on to customers.
“For the next eight months, it goes down,” Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said.
The Public Utilities Commission approved the decrease last week.
The request for the fuel-cost reduction came at the same time Xcel announced it wants to increase base rates for electricity beginning next January.
DENVER
Avaya union workers voice job concerns
“It’s all about jobs” and “offshoring equals unemployed” were the messages about 100 Avaya workers waved on signs at two Denver-area offices of the telephone-equipment maker Monday.
About 700 union workers are afraid their jobs are in jeopardy of being sent to India, said Lisa Bolton, executive vice president of the Communication Workers of America Local 7777. The union’s contract is up May 27.
DENVER
MediaNews to pay lion’s share for papers
ap is putting up most of the $1 billion that it and Hearst Corp. are spending to buy four newspapers from the McClatchy Co., regulatory filings showed Monday.
The Denver-based publisher of The Denver Post is paying $737 million for the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times, according to a copy of last week’s agreement. Hearst will spend $263 million for the Monterey County Herald and St. Paul Pioneer Press. The newspapers are part of the Knight Ridder chain being acquired by McClatchy. Hearst plans to swap its two newspapers to MediaNews for a stake in MediaNews’ publications outside the San Francisco Bay Area.
LOS ANGELES
Starz-supported Revolution to close
Revolution Studios said it will shut its doors in the fall of 2007. Douglas County-based Starz Entertainment Group Starz Encore invested $150 million for a 15 percent stake in 2000.
Starz has exclusive rights to air films by Revolution, which was behind the box-office bomb “Gigli,” on its movie channels and over its online film service, Vongo. Some of the films can air on Starz in the next seven to eight years.
ENGLEWOOD
Ouray Sportswear to move operations
Ouray Sportswear has announced it will move its corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant to 5200 E. Evans Ave. this month.
More than 200 employees of the apparel and headwear manufacturer will make the move from Englewood to the new facility. Additionally, the company’s factory outlet store on South Broadway and its showroom at the Denver Merchandise Mart will move to the new location.
ENGLEWOOD
Sports Authority will vote on going private
Shareholders of Englewood- based Sports Authority Inc. will meet today to vote on a plan for the sporting-goods retailer to go private.
An investor group led by Leon ard Green & Partners LLC and including top company executives has offered to buy the company for about $1.3 billion in cash, or $37.25 a share.
SAN DIEGO
Leap Wireless to shift
35 workers to DTC
San Diego-based Leap Wireless said it plans to move 35 workers to its Denver Tech Center office in Arapahoe County to centralize field operations.
Sales, marketing and product- development workers are to make the move by Sept. 1, Leap said. The publicly traded cellphone-service company sells Cricket and Jump Mobile service.
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Teacher pension fund sues Qwest, cites fraud
A pension fund for Pennsylvania teachers sued Qwest Communications International Inc. rather than join a $400 million settlement for investors who claimed the company engaged in accounting fraud.
The securities-fraud suit claims that Qwest, former chief executive Joe Nacchio, several former officers and directors, and former auditor Arthur Andersen LLP inflated the price of company securities from May 1999 to February 2002.
WASHINGTON
United wins OK for Chicago-Cancún flight
United Airlines has received federal approval to fly between Chicago and Cancún, Mexico, and will begin flights July 5. Denver-based Frontier Airlines had applied for permission to fly the route but did not gain approval.
WASHINGTON
SEC, IRS mull idea of sharing firms’ tax info
Securities regulators and the IRS are exploring the idea of requiring companies to publicly release more tax information, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said he discussed the subject over lunch recently with Mark Everson, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. Cox stressed that the idea was not a formal proposal.
DETROIT
Delphi’s bankruptcy keeps getting rougher
Auto-parts supplier Delphi Corp. said in a filing Monday that a federal bankruptcy court can immediately cancel its labor agreements instead of allowing Delphi to cancel them on its own, an action that could lead to a devastating strike.
Adding to Delphi’s struggle, the auto supplier said Monday that General Motors Corp. will start paying lower prices for Delphi parts after it failed to reach an agreement to continue paying higher rates to its supplier.
WASHINGTON
Rates on short-term T-bills hit 5-year high
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose to their highest levels in more than five years.The Treasury Department auctioned $15 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.685 percent and $14 billion in six-month bills at 4.780 percent.
