Xcel Energy subsidiary Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) has asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for permission to join SPP’s Markets+, saying the market option would not lock “the company into other markets which have suboptimal policies for customers and Colorado’s state goals.”
In a Feb. 14 filing, PSCo requested that the commission find it is in the public’s interest that the utility join SPP’s Markets+ while also asking for approval of modifications to the electric commodity adjustment tariff to recover costs associated with its market decision.
Specifically, PSCo seeks recovery of approximately $2 million in Phase 1 funding fees. The company also seeks recovery of costs associated with Phase 2 of Markets+, including approximately $14 million in administrative fees during the first five years of market operations and about $13 million to $15 million in technology upgrades, according to the filing.
Gerald Deaver, a commission adviser sitting in for CPUC Chair Eric Blank during a Feb. 21 Markets+ State Committee, said, “PSCo indicates in the filing that it would enter into the Phase 2 agreement as quickly as it could after a commission order approves their participation.”
PSCo “has evaluated several alternatives to Markets+, including the SPP RTO expansion and CAISO EDAM,” the filing stated. “The company’s analysis concluded that, at this time, participation in Markets+ provides the best option to retain the benefits of market participation while not prematurely locking the company into other markets which have suboptimal policies for customers and Colorado’s state goals.”
The company said it favors Markets+ for several reasons, including its governance structure, benefits “overall and in relation to costs relative to the other markets studied, including EDAM,” and Markets+’s greenhouse gas emissions tracking and accounting system.
PSCo also said “Markets+ is the only organized day-ahead market proposal for the West that will have a fully impartial and independent market operator, providing confidence that all market operator actions will be for the benefit of all participants and stakeholders.”
Markets+ supporters have repeatedly touted the benefits of the market’s independent governance in comparison with CAISO’s state-backed governance, an issue supporters of the ISO’s EDAM and Western Energy Imbalance Market have been attempting to address through the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative. (See Pathways ‘Step 2’ Bill Sets Conditions for EDAM Governance.)
“Over the past 10 years, through the successful implementation of the Western Energy Imbalance Market, regional coordination has proven an essential tool in maintaining grid reliability and lowering costs for electricity consumers in California and across the West,” CAISO spokesperson Jayme Ackemann said. “We look forward to continuing that work as we move [toward] the launch of the Extended Day-Ahead Market in 2026, which will build upon the benefits of the WEIM for all participants.”
In an email, Xcel spokesperson Tyler Bryant told RTO Insider that the company has been involved in the development of Markets+ since 2022. Bryant said the company believes joining Markets+ is in the public interest based on CPUC’s criteria.
Antoine Lucas, SPP vice president of Markets, said the RTO is pleased with the application and the company’s continued participation in Markets+.
“SPP values their unique voice as an entity representing the Mountain West region and the specific needs of Xcel customers, and we look forward to their engagement in phase two of Markets+ development,” Lucas said.
‘Thoroughly Intermeshed’
But not everyone is thrilled with the decision.
In an interview with RTO Insider, Brian Turner, director of Advanced Energy United, contended that the application lacked sufficient analysis of climate change impacts and the purported costs and benefits to Colorado ratepayers.
Turner also said the decision will create market seams within Colorado. He noted that Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission — which sells energy to utilities all around the Centennial State — has indicated it will join SPP’s full RTO as that entity expands into the West.
Meanwhile, the utilities that buy power from Tri-State have each indicated they will join different markets, some going with Markets+, others committing to SPP RTO, and others joining no market, Turner said.
The transmission systems of Xcel and Tri-State “are thoroughly intermeshed,” according to Turner.
“The seams between Xcel, going with Markets+, and Tri-State, going with SPP RTO and [Tri-State] having its own issue with seams with individual co-ops, is going to be a very major issue here, and one that should be raised to Colorado policy makers and is not,” Turner said.
“I fear the Colorado utilities, and therefore, policymakers, and therefore, rate makers, are headed down a road to a very limited market with lots of costs and reliability risks from the seams and the limited market that they’ve set themselves up with, basically driving down a dead-end road,” Turner said.
Tom Kleckner contributed to this story.
