Xcel solar power plan catching on

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2007/11/26/daily8.html

Monday, November 26, 2007 - 2:49 PM MST

Xcel solar power plan catching on

The Denver Business Journal

Xcel Energy Inc., Colorado's largest utility, connected its 1,000th small-solar customer to the grid on Monday.

Xcel's "Solar*Rewards" program, which gives customers rebates to help cover the cost of buying and installing solar panels on their homes and small businesses to generate electricity, has grown rapidly in the last 18 months.

Xcel (NYSE: XEL) is based in Minneapolis. It has 1.3 million electricity customers in Colorado.

To date, Xcel has handed out $19.5 million in rebates and payments for "Renewable Energy Credits" for customers offering solar power for use in their homes, businesses and to the utility.

The money comes from a special charge on every Xcel customers' bill in Colorado. Currently, customers pay an extra 0.6 percent, or roughly 36 cents on a $60 monthly electricity bill. The charge currently brings Xcel $13 million a year, a spokeswoman said.

Last week Xcel asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to raise the charge to 2 percent of a customer's monthly bill -- the maximum allowed by the Legislature.

Raising the charge from 0.6 to 2 percent would bring Xcel an additional $33 million a year to spend on new, bigger renewable energy programs.

Xcel said in early 2008 the company will issue three requests for proposals: large, on-site solar power systems that can generate between 100 kilowatts and 2 megawatts of power; a second RFP for up to 25 megawatts of solar-generated power from a single location; and a third RFP for 300 megawatts of wind-generated power.

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