[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},"mediaId",6220538,"mediaKeyId","3617089-ddc9e0172536f2f3c7b68e87d917593c","parentId",3617089,"title","Company cites Renewable Connect avoided-capacity method to argue against CPI indexing for community solar credits","audioSeconds",829,"startMs",3360000,"endMs",4189000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3617089-ddc9e0172536f2f3c7b68e87d917593c&start=3360&end=4189","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3617089-ddc9e0172536f2f3c7b68e87d917593c/thumbnail_3360000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6220538/Colorado/Company-cites-Renewable-Connect-avoided-capacity-method-to-argue-against-CPI-indexing-for-community-solar-credits","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6220538-873ac8310b8f2d43ee3bd49f59a15482/orig.mp4?Expires=1775730212&Signature=jLwoJyPlg0QzyrZNZQ6ovDbN46WWN~eDie8daWtFiAOgTiVVQvNlJNcs9pgTJrnletEatGwLFPlSgvV3Q30NwbqsZGVnAuJclVuw9lzKvJ3jCBF~GKHpRIiqifGDi9QY3G-UmWkrOwwsP~9eB4gVkSwOHYXJ-~AzEg2qS4-IBmTNaPfudWvV9HUzZIN4Nye0x2E~IOZQK98UzMZKbcsWnTuWkq40NEP4O7oyWUqNjNIzOBZ9mhYC93y8FGxXrQh3lBZxwNThyw8MvTRfxDfo4xXbzYU~TVBANr1MxmGpNWr-qORP90ldJvz~B-xORh3kHFIp5Ca8kt97~zaREtEsRQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","","date","2025-05-30T05:06:19Z","article","DENVER — During the Colorado Public Utilities Commission evidentiary hearing on May 29, 2025, Public Service Company of Colorado highlighted its Renewable Connect avoided-capacity calculation as an example of a fixed, levelized component that the company says differs materially from a CPI-indexed adjustment proposed for community solar credits.

Robert Neil Cowan, the company’s manager of regulatory policy and a witness in the proceeding, described the Renewable Connect avoided-capacity component as a predetermined, levelized value that “is fixed for the duration of the program.” Cowan pointed the Commission to the Renewable Connect filing in docket 24AL-0487E and asked the record to take administrative notice of that avoided-capacity calculation.

Cowan testified that the Renewable Connect derivation applies an escalation factor (identified in the Renewable Connect materials as 2.8% per year in the step used) but that the resulting levelized value — cited in the hearing as 1.769¢ per kWh — has been fixed in the program’s tariff and has not changed since 2018. Cowan and company counsel used that example to distinguish the company’s settled, fixed-value approach from the joint solar parties’ proposed CPI adjustment for CSG fixed bill credits.

To show the potential effect of an inflation-indexed mechanism, the company introduced demonstrative calculations (admitted as hearing exhibit 107) projecting a CPI-based escalation over a 20-year horizon. Under a 3% annual CPI assumption used in the company’s demonstrative spreadsheet, the company’s analysis showed a large nominal increase over two decades — the company described the effect as roughly an 85% increase for the 2020 vintage over 20 years and about a 51% increase for 2025 vintage projections — arguments the company said demonstrate the “compounding” impact a CPI approach could have on ratepayer costs.

Blake Elder, representing the joint solar parties, disputed using Renewable Connect as a like-for-like comparator because Renewable Connect is a utility-scale, competitively procured subscription program with different procurement, scale, and crediting structures than community solar gardens. Elder acknowledged and corrected a calculation in his own testimony (he filed a revised exhibit 300 rev 1 during the proceeding) but maintained that an adjustment is necessary to preserve the real value of fixed credits for community solar subscribers.

The ALJ took administrative notice of the Renewable Connect avoided-capacity document from docket 24AL-0487E, and hearing exhibit 107 (the company’s demonstrative, executable spreadsheet) was admitted into the record after parties discussed access and foundation. Parties requested an executable version of the spreadsheet be made available so opposing witnesses could check calculations before testimony.

Why it matters: The Renewable Connect example illustrates the differences between a predetermined, levelized fixed component and a continuously indexed inflation mechanism. The Commission must decide whether community-solar fixed credits should be treated like Renewable Connect’s fixed, negotiated component or be subject to an annual CPI-like adjustment that would change nominal credits over the lifetime of projects.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","24AL-0497E Public Service Company - AL 1970 - Tariff 8 - SRCS - 05.29.25 - HRB","oneSentenceSummary","At the May 29 PUC hearing, Public Service Company presented the Renewable Connect avoided-capacity calculation and a company analysis showing how a CPI-based adjustment could compound credit values over decades; the Commission took administrative notice of the Renewable Connect exhibit.","taxTitle","Public Utilities Commission, Governor's Boards and Commissions, Organizations, Executive, Colorado","taxId",28165,"location","Colorado","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},6220543,"PUC hearing debates inflation adjustment and which vintages get fixed community-solar credits",6953,1796000,8749000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3617089-ddc9e0172536f2f3c7b68e87d917593c&start=1796&end=8749","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3617089-ddc9e0172536f2f3c7b68e87d917593c/thumbnail_1796000.jpg","/articles/6220543/Colorado/PUC-hearing-debates-inflation-adjustment-and-which-vintages-get-fixed-community-solar-credits","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6220543-c60bc01af2fa20f58513acc6186ea7c0/orig.mp4?Expires=1775730212&Signature=Sp0N3v-95r83ZBugOQh5cJn5pnUPqf0UBNBbhpmIqfhcWPKb1qpPMv3EplUIC7yJRbgMryjHN-kDxnU0P3ryXj~qAijFSBeWYMxhZS75JG01AKFBZxbQ4t773hX01Ck~bBGP2yIWcWtlWN64U1VQGOt4Eizm3-cZjy2H7mtY-Ye0gMoOtggFqh5xHoLuGjHBzK14dlHw9fRQmmMHVYWyiVMa1hrDAJw5oh0qxCevW-GFXKYMplnkuryfhjdJwOQO9sSeDv9RXSFgJsTAqvIEVwI8jd3sgLwzd8r1x7E~OQfE92yQl8OsJsntmUE2TedKKSHeMcbmBrBlkFW1miA7iQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","DENVER — At an evidentiary hearing before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on May 29, 2025, parties argued over two central questions arising from House Bill 23-1137: whether the commission should apply an inflation-based (CPI) adjustment to fixed bill credits for community solar garden (CSG) subscribers, and which historical “vintages” of credits should be set as fixed going forward.

The matter, filed as advice letter 1970 by Public Service Company of Colorado, centers on the Commission’s process for calculating the fixed bill credit and an adjustment mechanism to address changes in purchasing power over time. The company, intervenors from the joint solar parties, and trial staff all presented witnesses and exhibits during the hearing in proceeding 24AL-04978E.

Why it matters: The commission’s decision will determine whether the dollar value that CSG subscribers receive is indexed for inflation and whether developers or future subscribers from earlier years can elect a fixed credit. That outcome affects the long-term economics of community solar projects and rate impacts borne by utility customers.

Public Service Company witness Robert Neil Cowan, manager of regulatory policy, said the company does not support an inflation-indexed CPI adjustment. “We do not support that,” Cowan said in cross-examination when asked whether the company supported a CPI-based adjustment mechanism. Cowan told the panel the company’s reading of the statute and prior Commission activity informs that stance and emphasized the Commission’s implementation order in docket 24R-0133E as instructive to methodology questions.

By contrast, Blake Elder, senior manager at the Coalition for Community Solar Access (one of the joint solar parties), urged the Commission to adopt an adjustment that preserves the real value of fixed credits over a project’s life. “We’re simply requesting that the nominal value … be adjusted to recognize the real change in purchasing power of that amount over the lifetime of a subscription,” Elder testified.

Trial staff offered an alternative approach in testimony from Nick Bongiardina, an analyst in the PUC’s engineering section. Bongiardina said staff does not consider an adjustment mandatory in this proceeding and indicated alternative venues for addressing adjustment mechanisms, such as future tariff filings or resource-plan dockets. When asked directly whether an adjustment had to be made now, Bongiardina answered, “I don’t think you need to.”

On vintages — which years’ bill credits should be fixed — the positions differed. Public Service’s witness acknowledged the company adjusted its position from the original filing and proposed treating vintages starting in 2023 and including 2024 and 2025 as fixed in the tariff. Elder and the joint solar parties urged the Commission to set fixed vintages going back to 2020 for projects that have not yet reached commercial operation and that could reasonably expect fixed-credit elections under the rule and statute.

Parties grounded arguments in the statutory language of House Bill 23-1137 and the Commission’s rules implementing that law. Cowan repeatedly referenced the statute and the Commission’s order in docket 24R-0133E as framing how a fixed bill credit methodology should be applied.

Procedural outcomes at the hearing included admission of multiple exhibits and administrative notice of materials from the Renewable Connect proceeding (24AL-0487E). The judge set a deadline for statements of position on June 12. The ALJ indicated an intent to issue a decision by the end of June.

The Commission will now consider written positions and the evidentiary record before issuing an order that resolves whether to adopt an inflation-adjustment mechanism and which vintages will be fixed under the tariff. No final determination was made on the CPI adjustment or vintages during the hearing.","At a May 29, 2025 Colorado Public Utilities Commission evidentiary hearing, parties disputed whether fixed bill credits for community solar subscriptions should be adjusted for inflation (CPI) and which vintage years should be established as fixed under House Bill 23-1137 and implementing Commission rules.","actionData","errors"]

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Company cites Renewable Connect avoided-capacity method to argue against CPI indexing for community solar credits

PUC hearing debates inflation adjustment and which vintages get fixed community-solar credits