The Colorado Public Utilities Commission decided today to ask utilities such as Xcel Energy to disclose their customer terminations due to delinquent bills, a reporting requirement that was lifted in 2006.
PUC chairman Ron Binz said the information has always been important to regulators but is even more so now that rising gasoline prices, the mortgage meltdown and other factors are putting “substantial strain on household budgets.”
As such, he proposed to send a letter Thursday to Xcel and other regulated utilities asking them to submit by July 31 information about their customer terminations due to nonpayment.
The proposal was supported by the other commissioners, Matt Baker and Jim Tarpey.
None of the existing commissioners were in office in 2006 when the PUC lifted the reporting requirement as part of a sweeping rewrite of all of its rules.
Former commissioner Carl Miller has said the change was made to “reduce unnecessary regulation.” Xcel was previously required to report terminations quarterly.
Although Xcel has declined to disclose its disconnection figures to The Denver Post, the state’s largest utility has estimated that it will shut off 47,000 households during the second and third quarter of this year. The estimate, a 140 percent increase over the same period in 2005, was revealed as part of hearings covering the company’s future power-generation plans.
Utilities nationwide are reporting that they are turning off more customers for delinquent bills this year amid rising gas, food and energy costs.
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
