Colorado regulators have declined to reconsider their decision finding that it would be in the public interest for Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) to join SPP’s Markets+.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission voted 2-1 on Jan. 21 to deny requests by three organizations for rehearing, re-argument or reconsideration. As in the initial decision, issued Oct. 9, Chair Eric Blank and Commissioner Tom Plant voted in favor, while Commissioner Megan Gilman was opposed. (See Split Colo. PUC Approves Xcel Energy’s Markets+ Application and Colo. PUC Approves PSCo’s Markets+ Participation.)
The requests for reconsideration came from Western Resource Advocates, Advanced Energy United and Colorado Energy Consumers.
“After reviewing the [requests] filed by WRA, AEU and CEC, I still find that the majority’s initial decision is sufficiently supported within the record and based on policy considerations,” Blank said.
But the commission did agree to reverse its decision to direct PSCo to file an application to join an RTO or ISO, or request a waiver from doing so, by June 1, 2027 — two years earlier than the deadline set in commission rules.
State law requires electric utilities that own and control transmission facilities to join an organized wholesale market (OWM) by 2030. In its original decision, the commission had argued there was “a genuine potential for Public Service to conclude its efforts in organized wholesale market participation with SPP Markets+.” The earlier deadline would “help confirm that Public Service is moving towards its eventual participation in an OWM or is prepared to show why OWM participation is not in the public interest.”
But AEU argued in its reconsideration request that the earlier deadline would dramatically increase the odds that PSCo, an Xcel Energy subsidiary, would seek a waiver from RTO or ISO participation and that the waiver would be granted. Fewer data about the benefits of SPP’s RTO West, also known as the RTO Expansion, would be available then, AEU said, and alternatives available through the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative would likely be at an early stage.
Commissioners agreed and reset the deadline to June 1, 2029.
In another change to its earlier decision, the commission addressed concerns that PSCo would use the money spent on joining Markets+ as an argument against RTO participation. The commission directed PSCo to exclude sunk costs in the cost-benefit analysis of joining an RTO.
Public Interest Finding
Under commission regulations, transmission utilities that want to participate in a day-ahead market must demonstrate three things: The market must have protocols in place for greenhouse gas emissions tracking and accounting; it must have a plan to address seams issues with neighboring markets; and the expected benefits of joining the market must exceed costs, as shown by modeling and other analysis.
Parties that sought reconsideration said the GHG protocols and seams strategies for Markets+ are not fully developed. They said a Western Markets Exploratory Group study that analyzed costs and benefits was based on “flawed assumptions and outdated market footprint.”
WRA argued that the commission “should not make a public interest determination before requiring the company to evaluate participation in other markets,” including CAISO’s Extended Day Ahead Market.
Blank pointed to a previous commission determination that utility participation in an energy imbalance market, a day-ahead market, an RTO, a power pool or a joint tariff is generally in the public interest. The determination was based on a study commissioned to meet requirements of the Colorado Transmission Coordination Act of 2019.
But Gilman sided with the groups requesting reconsideration. She said she plans to again write a dissent to the commission’s decision.
“Plain and simple, the company failed to provide the evidence that met the public interest requirement in the rules,” she said.
