Colorado May Stick Customers With Comanche 3 Costs

The Denver Gazette reports that state regulators may soon gain the authority to force Xcel Energy customers to pay for the troubled Comanche 3 coal plant for decades through a financing mechanism known as securitization. Under House Bill 1326, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission could require utilities to issue bonds backed by long-term charges on customer bills, potentially lasting 20 to 30 years. fileciteturn13file0

Comanche 3, Colorado’s largest coal unit, has been plagued by reliability issues, including extended outages and a major failure in 2025. While some argue securitization could lower financing costs and spread out expenses, critics warn it shifts risk onto ratepayers and gives regulators sweeping new authority over how utilities recover costs.

The Bullet Point Brief

The state may force Xcel customers to pay for Comanche 3 for the next 20 to 30 years. Nothing says “good deal” like a bill your kids will inherit.
This is called “securitization,” which is a fancy way of saying: we’re turning your monthly bill into a Wall Street financial instrument.
Comanche 3 has been a reliability headache, with frequent outages and a major failure in 2025. Not exactly a shining success story.
Supporters say this could save money long-term. Critics say it shifts risk straight onto ratepayers. Guess who does not get a vote.
The bill expands the Public Utilities Commission’s power to force these financing decisions, not just approve them. Because what could go wrong.

My Bottom Line

Good Lord, what a mess.

You have a struggling power plant. You have a utility trying to navigate it. And then you have the State of Colorado stepping in with a toolbox full of mandates, policies, and “solutions” that somehow always end with the same result.

You paying more.

Let me say something that might surprise people. I do not automatically blame Xcel.

They are an investor-owned utility operating inside a system that is anything but a free market. When your business model is shaped by legislative mandates, regulatory micromanagement, and political agendas, you are not exactly making decisions in a vacuum.

You are playing a game where the rules change every session.

And now here comes the Public Utilities Commission, armed with expanded authority, ready to decide how costs get financed, how long you pay, and what counts as being in your “best interest.”

That phrase should make every ratepayer nervous.

Because somewhere between the legislature’s energy mandates and the PUC’s enforcement muscle, the actual consumer gets squeezed. Rates go up. Reliability gets shaky. And accountability gets lost in a maze of acronyms and hearings.

This is what happens when you build an energy system that is two parts government control and one part market reality.

You get exactly what we are seeing.

Higher costs. More complexity. Less clarity.

If Colorado actually wanted to help consumers, it would step back, not step in.

Less government. More market.

It is not complicated.

Source: The Denver Gazette