DENVER—The state utilities commission on Thursday rejected Xcel Energy’s efforts to recoup the last $17 million in costs for its SmartGridCity project, a pilot program billed as the nation’s first comprehensive experiment using communications and computer technology to manage electricity flows.
The cost of the Boulder-based project has nearly tripled to $45 million. Xcel recovered $28 million of the cost through customer rates and wanted customers to pay the rest, The Denver Post () reported.
The request was rejected with prejudice by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, meaning Xcel cannot file further requests, the newspaper said.
As the cost of the project soared, the plan was scaled back. The number of energy management systems designed to help homeowners manage their electricity use was slashed from more than 1,000 to about 100, but the company still could not make it work.
“We gave them all the opportunities,” commission chairman Josh Epel said.
In 2010, the commission allowed Xcel to put $28 million in SmartGridCity costs into customer bills and said the utility couldn’t get the rest until it showed customer benefits and a strategic plan for the technology.
In January, after a lengthy hearing, Administrative Law Judge Paul Gomez ruled that Xcel had failed to meet those criteria and recommended against the company effort to recoup more costs.
Xcel asked the full commission to reconsider Gomez’s ruling, but the commissioners upheld the judge’s findings.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
