Link: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15906843

Need another reason to go solar in Colorado? Here you go:

Denver had the second-highest increase in electric rates in the country in the first half of this year — 21.4 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics...

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15906843

From June 1st to September 31st, electricity for Colorado homes will cost up to $0.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Traditionally this year, electricity from Xcel Energy in Colorado has run around $0.105 per kWh.

With the new two tiered rate system just released by Xcel, every kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity above 500 used by a residential home in a given month will be subject to this much higher fee. The average household electricity consumption in Colorado is around 700kWh per month - which means the average family would pay the 2nd-tier rate on about 200kWh of their usage.

Here's a simple breakdown

Traditional Rate System:

700kWh (Usage) x $0.105 (Avg. Electricity Rate) = $73.50

New 2-Tier Rate System:

Tier 1 - 500kWh (Usage) x $0.10 (Avg. Tier 1 Rate) = $50.00
Tier 2 - 200kWh (Usage) x $0.15 (Avg. Tier 2 Rate) = $30.00
Total = $80.00 ($0.115 per kWh)

This would represent a 9% increase. For bigger users of electricity, this new tier will represent a significant increase in their summer electricity bill.

Fortunately you have a remedy - solar energy! Solar is producing best during these summer months, and can drive your usage into the lower tier or eliminate it altogether.

Solar just got more valuable in Colorado.

From the GEO Website:

"Coloradans can soon tap into millions of Recovery Act dollars and take steps to save money, boost the economy and save energy as the Governor's Energy Office and partners prepare to launch a sweeping, statewide rebate program April 19. This initiative is designed to bring energy efficiency and renewable energy to tens of thousands of Coloradans and will provide nearly 75,000 rebates worth approximately $22 million."

For 2010, the Colorado GEO solar rebate is set at $1.50 per watt (up to 3kW for residential and 10kW for commercial projects). Several rural and co-op electric utilities in Colorado are offering matching funds to the GEO rebate, bringing the overall solar rebate up to $3 per watt. This is more than the current Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy solar rebate of $2.55 per watt in Colorado.

Astralux has special GEO 3kW solar packages for Residential and 10kW packages for Small Business projects. These packages come with a free energy audit of your home or business.

Funds for the GEO solar rebate are first-come, first-serve.

http://www.astraluxsolar.com/Astralux_GEO_Solar_Package.pdf

Following in Xcel Energy's footsteps, Black Hills Energy is reducing the solar rebate for small category systems in Colorado (less than 10kW). The rebate will drop from $3.50 per watt down to $2.70 per watt, a reduction of 23%.

This $0.80 per watt reduction in the Black Hills Energy solar rebate will be effective at Midnight tonight (January 15th).

The Black Hills Energy solar rebate, like Xcel Energy, is a combination of a rebate payment and a renewable energy credit (REC) payment. The REC payment of the small category incentive (currently at $1.50 per watt) will decrease to $0.70 per watt, the rebate payment ($2 per watt) is fixed and thus will remain unchanged.

Xcel Energy has initiated similar reductions to their solar rewards rebates over the past several months. Xcel released a new tiered rebate system to inform solar integrators and customers exactly when and how their solar rebate would change in the future. The California Solar Initiative (CSI) has a similar method of distributing rebates.

If you are a Black Hills Energy customer in Colorado, please contact us today if you are interested in solar for your home or business.

Link: http://bit.ly/79JDZ6

2009 was an incredible and adventurous year for solar energy in Colorado, the nation, and the world. Here were the highlights:

1) Despite the recession, the amount of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems sold and installed in Colorado increased by over 90%.

2) Over $50 million in solar energy rebates were distributed statewide.

3) The small category (under 10kW in size) saw the greatest increase, going from 6.02 megawatts (MW) installed in 2008 to 12.5MW in 2009.

4) A European solar module supply gut led to solar system material prices dropping by as much as 50%...

Read More...

Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/08/03/daily31.html

With immense pressure bearing down from Colorado solar customers, installers, local government officials, renewable energy advocacy associations, and the Government Energy Office - Xcel has withdrawn the solar fee proposal that was slated for debate on Wednesday.

Dr. Rande Treece, Founder and CEO of Astralux, proclaimed, "This is a big win for the local solar energy community - and sends the message that concerned citizens do have the power to stop large organizations like Xcel from creating unfair policies.”

Astralux received hundreds of phone calls and emails, from customers and strangers alike, concerning this potential "solar fee". Almost every employee and over 2 dozen customers had planned on attending Wednesday's PUC open forum covering the matter. Fortunately, Xcel has come to their senses on this issue and everyone planning to attend can instead spend their time enjoying the Colorado summer!

Thanks to everyone for your support and letters to the PUC - they obviously got the message!

Xcel Energy is proposing unfair rake hikes for new solar energy customers in Colorado. These hikes would unjustly charge new solar owners a minimum usage fee every month simply for the "privilege" to use Xcel's energy grid.

Solar energy not only helps reduce the load demand for Xcel's energy grid, but the solar energy surge (pun intended) has created demand for new businesses setting up shop in Colorado, subsequently leading to more electricity use. In fact, Colorado is Xcel's #1 profit source, and just reported increased profits on higher electricity rates.

Please join us for the Public Utilities Commission open forum on this topic, the more support we can get there - the better:

August 5th - 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
1560 Broadway, Suite 1550
Denver, CO 80202

Please Note: THIS PROPOSED POLICY DOES NOT APPLY TO EXISTING SOLAR ENERGY OWNERS. If passed, the proposal would go into effect in April 2010, and therefore only solar energy owners after that date would be subject to these proposed charges. If you have a system already installed, you will not be subject to these charges.

An article published in the Boulder County Business Report explains how some residents and businesses in Boulder may soon have the option to be billed based on the time of day they use electricity. This concept is called time-of-use pricing which has been used in California and would allow Xcel to charge higher electrical rates during peak-use hours and lower rates during non-peak hours.

This is becoming an option due to the SmartGridCity program which will allow consumers to program their meters to consume electricity at times they specify. For example, the peak electricity hours might run between noon and 3pm, so a family could program their appliances to turn off or run on a lower setting during that time, saving them money. The downside to this smart technology is peak hours might coincide with times electricity must be consumed, resulting in higher electricity costs.

Installing solar electricity in your home or business is a good solution to this problem for two reasons. First, solar will protect you from rising peak electricity rates because electricity generated from the system would not be coming from Xcel. Second, these solar panels are most productive during the time when peak-use hours are most likely to occur, from noon to 3pm, so since a solar system in Colorado is net metered and feeds electricity back into the grid - the owner of the system is paid for the extra energy produced, and since these prices would reflect the peak-hour rates (which can be 4 to 5 times higher than normal rates), even the wholesale rate payback from Xcel could become a decent amount of money.

This program is voluntary at the moment, but will most likely become mandatory in the future.