Xcel threatens to cut Boulder solar rebates

Xcel Energy officials are threatening to cut solar rebates and energy-efficiency programs if Boulder voters approve a plan to break from Xcel and start a municipal utility.

Xcel regional vice president Jerome Davis said in a letter Tuesday that during the five or more years it will take to form the utility, the company may have to discontinue the programs.

Boulder Mayor Susan Osborne calls Xcel’s threat a ploy by a desperate corporation to block the initiative.

Before Xcel’s 20-year franchise agreement with Boulder expired last year, the city started exploring whether to create a municipally owned utility as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and get more energy from renewable sources.

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