The Boulder City Council gave unanimous approval Tuesday night to a ballot measure that will ask voters in November for permission to create a municipal utility.
The “emergency” approval — which required a two-thirds vote — was necessary because council members again tweaked the measure’s language to make it more difficult for a future council to actually flip the switch on a new local utility if the city’s electric rates would be higher than Xcel’s rates.
In July, the City Council added language to the municipalization ballot measure that would forbid the city from selling the bonds needed to buy the local electric distribution center from Xcel Energy unless Boulder could attain “rate parity” with Xcel at the time of acquisition.
In early August, the City Council made the language stricter, stating that the city shall not start a municipal utility if its rates would “exceed those rates” charged by Xcel. On Tuesday night, the council went further, adding language that would require a third-party expert to verify the city’s math and agree that the city’s rates would be in line with Xcel’s before selling any bonds.
