How You Can Help

Community Options white paper

CONTENTS

• 1.  Ways individuals can help
• 2.  Ways groups can help
• 3.  Main "Asks" of decision-makers
• 4.  Ideas to spread, write about, etc.
• 5.  Summary of the CEO Project's motivation and goals

1.  Ways individuals can help

• Read at least the Introduction and Executive Summary of the white paper to better understand the Project and increase the effectiveness of your outreach.
• Write a Letter to the Editor (LTE) or Guest editorial (Op-ed) for a local or statewide newspaper.  See sections 3-5 below for topic ideas.  Our comprehensive list of Colorado newspapers has submission information and guidance on writing opinion pieces.   [Example Op-ed]
• Call, write or visit your state representative and senator.  See "Find My Legislator" to identify your state legislators, then look up their contact information.  See sections 3-5 below for ideas on what to say.
• Write to the Governor (contact info & contact form), and/or the leadership of the Colorado Energy Office (contact info).
• Speak at a City Council meeting. Most cities have a public comment period at each meeting – see the city website or contact a city official for details.  [Example]
• Ask a question at a Town Hall meeting.  Local legislators need to hear from their constituents that cities with unreachable renewable energy goals is a problem that needs their attention.  Asking a question also raises awareness among other attendees.  [Example]
• Join our group!  Do you have substantial energy knowledge; contact with decision-makers or stakeholders or those with access to them; speaking or presenting skills; or other ways that you could contribute in a larger way and/or an on-going basis?
• Make a helpful introduction.  Connecting us with someone who may be in favor of greater consumer choice and control over energy sources is a much more effective outreach strategy than an out-of-the-blue message.
• Promote this campaign to your networks and interest groups.
• Lobby your city leaders to set ambitious renewable energy goals and join the ranks of Colorado cities that need a way to achieve them.  See the Sierra Club's "Ready for 100" list and the membership of "Colorado Communities for Climate Action" (CC4CA).
• Spread the Word.  Talk to potentially-interested people, point them to the Community Electricity Options webpage, or send them the white paper.
• Donate to our non-profit, volunteer, 501(c3) organization.

2.  Ways groups can help

• Raise awareness within your group by encouraging others to read the Introduction and Executive Summary of the white paper, and consider supporting the idea on its merits. For example: the proposed state-level investigation would be good for customer choice; reducing electricity costs; advancing renewable energy; and meeting the energy goals of cities and large businesses.
• Put us on your agenda!  We'd be happy to present and discuss this Project with your group.
• Reach out to your contacts in the legislature or governor's office (or to those who have access to them), with the message that many of their constituents live in communities that cannot meet their own energy goals, and that the decision-maker holds the key to the solution. Decision-makers need to hear from many different quarters about this approach to addressing the problem.
• Spread the word to other stakeholders (which is basically everyone). Widespread exposure is needed to achieve a sort of snowball effect, and to accumulate the "six touches."
• Stakeholders include:  groups representing business interests; environmental advocates; consumer advocates; large energy users; utilities; independent power producers; communities with energy goals; and community groups like Colorado Communities for Climate Action and Compact of Colorado Communities.  The membership of grassroots groups also has an important role to play in raising awareness among the public and decision-makers.
• Join our group –  become an active participant, and/or officially endorse the Project.
• Communities and large corporate energy users are natural allies, with similar goals and similar constraints, and could coordinate their efforts for greater impact. Together they could apply greater pressure on utilities to address their energy goals, and apply greater political pressure on decision-makers to initiate a process to enable the best solution(s). Such alliances make a powerful statement.
• Electric co-ops have an important role as a key stakeholder group that also needs state-level solutions, similar to cities, for their restrictive contracts and high electricity costs (see section 4 in the white paper).

3.  Main "Asks" of decision-makers (legislators, governor's office, or those with access to them)

• Find and implement one or more practical and cost-effective ways to address the unmet needs of over a million constituents who live in cities with 100% renewable energy goals in the 2025 to 2035 timeframe (or other ambitious energy goals).  The Community Electricity Options white paper describes six possible solutions (there are probably more). This demonstrates that viable paths forward do exist, and provides a starting point for a state-level discussion.
• Leadership is needed to initiate a transparent and inclusive process, such as a legislative or Governor's committee that receives input from diverse stakeholders and independent experts.  Such a process would result in well-supported conclusions that would be more broadly accepted than a more prescriptive process.  See our example Bill Title.
• Examples of an appropriate process include a legislative interim committee with expert testimony and public hearings, or a "Governor's blue ribbon committee on community and corporate energy options" with stakeholder and public input. The Legislature or Governor's office could also direct the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to conduct an informational "I-docket" or "M-docket" with invited speakers and public hearings.

4.  Ideas to spread, write about, etc.

• Over a million citizens live in cities or counties with ambitious renewable energy goals but no practical and cost-effective way to reach them, because they have little choice or control over the energy sources used to produce their electricity.  See the Sierra Club's list of "Ready for 100" cities, and the membership of Colorado Cities for Climate Action (CC4CA). This constituency is too large to be ignored.
• State-level solutions are needed to provide communities (and large businesses) with more choice and control over their energy sources. There are at least the six possible solutions reviewed in the white paper, most of which are available and successful in other states. Each approach requires either modest or major state-level legislative and regulatory action.
• Decision-makers at the state level (legislators, governor's office) must initiate some process to find the best solution(s) for cities and businesses. First, they must recognize that there is a problem that needs solving by hearing from many of their constituents, cities, businesses, etc.
• Viable solutions should come from a transparent process with input from diverse stakeholders, independent experts and the public, who would evaluate the alternatives, identify the best solutions, and then determine the legislative and regulatory actions needed to implement them. An open process ensures that the needs of the cities and businesses are actually met, not just the desires of narrow interests. An open process would produce well-considered, evidence-based conclusions that are more likely to be widely accepted.
• Renewable energy is now the cheapest energy (source). Xcel has shown that replacing two coal plants with wind, solar and energy storage will save customers over $200 million (source). The economic argument for more renewable energy is viable and gaining strength.
• The cost of electricity is unnecessarily high for Colorado's electric co-ops that purchase their wholesale power from Tri-State Generation and Transmission. United Power co-op estimated that its costs would be reduced by 28% if it bought its power from Xcel rather than Tri-State (source). These co-ops have even less freedom to choose their energy sources and control their costs than customers of monopoly utilities like Xcel, due to Tri-State's restrictive contracts and governance structure (source1, source2, source3). For more on co-ops, see section 4 of the white paper. Co-ops should be at the table pushing for state-level regulatory changes.
• Corporations want to contract directly for low-cost renewable energy (source). Many have 100% renewable energy goals (source). States without corporate choice options may have difficulty attracting and keeping energy intensive businesses (source).
• Consumers are in a better position than ever before to ask for what they want from their utilities (source).  Forward-looking utilities will want to stay ahead of this customer demand.
• Uncompetitive coal and gas plants that are retired early as a result of market forces or legislative changes, while saving ratepayers money, should also compensate utilities fairly (unless a case is made that the investment was imprudent). Similarly, early retirements should consider the local economic impact and provide for transitional aid to affected communities and individuals.

5.  Summary of the CEO Project's motivation and goals

• Motivation for the Project:  The need to develop an actionable path forward for the growing number of communities and large businesses that have ambitious energy goals but no practical and cost-effective way to reach them.
• Main goal of the Project:  Initiate a statewide conversation and a state-level process to enable one or more solutions for these communities and businesses that allows for more choice and control over the energy sources used to produce their electricity.
• Main approach to the Project:  Many individuals and groups acting together is needed to motivate decision-makers to initiate a transparent stakeholder process to study all of the options for cities and large businesses to reach their ambitious energy goals, to identify the best solution(s), and to determine the legislative and regulatory changes needed to implement them.
• Purposes served by the white paper: 
  • Describes the rationale behind the recommendation for a state-level investigation.
  • Provides well-referenced background information on six possible ways that communities could gain more choice and more control over their energy sources, thereby making it clear that there are indeed viable options and a good starting point for any legislative or governor-led committee process.
  • Reviews additional options for electric co-ops and municipal electric utilities.
• The "Six Ways" to address ambitious energy goals (see the white paper and executive summary for more detail):
  • Two different flavors of Community Choice Aggregation, or CCA – as practiced in California and as practiced in Illinois. CCAs offer communities an alternative electricity supplier with alternative rate plan options.
  • An improved version of the 2018 session's bill HB-1428, which would have allowed utilities to enter into collaborative agreements with individual cities if it had passed. The paper recommends ways to improve the bill to make it better for cities.
  • Municipalization (taking control of the local electricity system) and forming a municipal electric utility – as Boulder is pursuing, and Pueblo is considering.
  • Utilities voluntarily accelerate their transition to 100% renewable energy system-wide, thereby eliminating any need for city-specific solutions. The paper looks at the technical and economic feasibility of this option based on studies by NREL, RMI and others. This option might also be a great first step toward the Polis 100% by 2040 statewide goal.
  • Adapt the idea of a "green tariff" for use by cities. Green tariffs are programs designed for large corporations in monopoly states that allow them to contract for renewable energy from specific projects through their utility.
• Important to clarify: A specific solution is not being proposed.  Rather, we propose a transparent and inclusive process involving a legislative or Governor's committee with input from diverse stakeholders and independent experts. This approach is well suited to identifying the best solutions, which will be more widely accepted than a prescriptive solution.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
-  Margaret Mead