The Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Oct. 9 issued a split decision approving Public Service Company of Colorado’s application to join SPP’s Markets+, finding that market participation is in the public interest and will “provide a number of benefits.”
The commission, in a 2-1 vote, approved PSCo’s participation, with Chair Eric Blank and Commissioner Tom Plant finding in favor of the request and Commissioner Megan Gilman dissenting.
PSCo, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, filed its request to join Markets+ in February. The commission voted to approve the utility’s participation July 30 but did not issue a comprehensive written decision — including approval of some cost-recovery measures — until now. (See Colo. PUC Approves PSCo’s Markets+ Participation.)
“In sum, we grant Public Service’s application and authorize the company to recover the costs associated with joining SPP Markets+ because increased integration between Public Service and other utilities in the Western Interconnection will likely provide a number of benefits in the short term, while allowing the company and stakeholders to explore longer-term benefits that may result from [organized wholesale markets] or continued Markets+ participation,” Blank and Plant wrote.
PSCo’s participation in Markets+ is in the public interest and will improve dispatch of generation resources in Colorado while alleviating market seams, Blank and Plant found. “Adding to those economic benefits are other shorter-term benefits, including near-term resource adequacy benefits associated with participation in the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP),” the commissioners said.
Markets+ has in place efficient greenhouse gas accounting mechanisms, and participation will lead to wholesale market price transparency and financial benefits, Blank and Plant wrote. Participation in Markets+ also is a step toward PSCo potentially joining an RTO in the future, the decision noted.
However, Gilman did not share Blank and Plant’s conclusions, reiterating many points she made when the PUC approved PSCo’s Markets+ participation in July.
Instead, Gilman sided with four organizations that intervened in the case to urge the commission to deny the application. Gilman wrote in her dissent that PSCo “fundamentally failed to satisfy the public interest criteria listed in commission Rule 3752(a) and, therefore, should have properly been denied by the commission without prejudice.”
For example, Gilman argued that Markets+ lacks sufficient greenhouse gas accounting protocols, noting those are still in development, “leaving the final result unknown.”
“Further, several parties point to the new potential for unprecedented federal interference, especially related to emissions tracking,” Gilman added. “Such an obvious and emerging risk should not be taken lightly and could stand to significantly complicate processes moving forward.”
Blank and Plant noted in the decision that Colorado will have some utilities participating in RTO West and Markets+, both of which are operated by SPP, arguing that this is progress toward resolving seams issues.
However, Gilman said, “There does not appear to be a solid plan for better integration of these markets, nor a timeline upon which to do so provided in this record.”
Gilman also appeared skeptical that PSCo’s Markets+ participation will lead to greater economic benefits or that the utility will join an organized wholesale market by 2030 as required under Colorado law.
On the issue of resource adequacy, Gilman noted that while SPP requires Markets+ participants to also join WRAP, the utility “could join the WRAP independent of joining Markets+.”
“So, while it is accurate that such benefits could come from the necessity to join the WRAP in order to participate in Markets+, it is disingenuous to point to this as a benefit of Markets+, as the WRAP benefits could be achieved for a significantly lower cost in just joining WRAP itself,” Gilman added.
Advanced Energy United was one of the intervening parties in the case.
The organization’s regulatory director, Brian Turner, sits on the Launch Committee of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative, established to shift governance of EDAM from CAISO to an independent regional organization.
“This decision further balkanizes the Western grid, leaves Colorado clean energy isolated, and undermines Colorado’s ability to ensure an affordable, reliable energy future,” Turner told RTO Insider in an email.
“We are pleased the Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved our participation in Markets+, a wholesale energy market that will benefit our customers and Colorado,” Xcel Energy spokesperson Michelle Aguayo said in an email. “Markets+ is anticipated to lead to economic, operational and environmental benefits, by reducing operational costs through more efficient use of generation resources, which could lead to lower overall energy costs for customers. When paired with a robust transmission network, it can enhance reliability of the power grid by providing sufficient generation resources during times of increased demand.”
