FERC last week granted one of three claims against Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) in response to cooperatives’ complaints that they were charged $17.5 million in excessive gas costs during Winter Storm Uri in 2021 (EL23-21).

The commission said four PSCo customers (CORE Electric Cooperative, Grand Valley Rural Power Lines, Holy Cross Electric Association and Yampa Valley Electric Association) were able to prove they are entitled to review a baseload contract under the utility’s fuel protocols. It directed PSCo to make the contract available to the complainants, subject to a protective order.

The cooperatives said they were charged $17.5 million for extra fuel costs during the storm.

The utility’s fuel protocols provide that PSCo will make available to any wholesale fuel adjustment clause customer “books and records” related to the clause’s provisions and protocols. The Xcel Energy subsidiary argued the term “books and records” does not include the baseload contracts because the contracts are not the actual inputs for the fuel costs that are calculated and charged to the cooperatives under the fuel adjustment clause.

PSCo contended that the invoiced amounts charged under the baseload contracts, which it had already turned over to the cooperatives, were relevant because the information is necessary to understand how the charges were calculated. FERC found the argument to be unpersuasive, saying the utility did not cite any fuel protocol language indicating that “books and records” is limited only to “fuel cost inputs.”

The commission denied two other complaints by the cooperatives: that PSCo “imprudently” planned for its natural gas reserves and passed on excess costs from spot market purchases in February 2021 and that it acted imprudently and in a preferential manner by selling excess gas to an affiliate during the storm. FERC said the complainants had not presented sufficient evidence to meet their initial burden for those claims.

The commission also denied without prejudice the complainants’ request for relief from a Dec. 31, 2022, tariff deadline to raise questions concerning the fuel adjustment clause charges. They alleged PSCo violated its filed rate by withholding information, negating a further challenge to the charges, but FERC found the request to be “premature at this time.”