Colorado PUC rejects Xcel’s plan to build 460 EV chargers | Business [Video]

Xcel Energy’s state-mandated transportation electrification plan for 2024-2026 is moving forward after getting the approval of Colorado’s energy regulators.

What won’t be moving forward are Xcel’s plans to bill some customers $120 million to build 460 electric vehicle chargers it would own and operate.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved the company’s updated transportation electrification plan, whose original request was $344 million, but cut the budget by more than $172 million overall.

Notably, regulators reduced the budget for the proposed company-owned EV chargers to $16 million, which will be used for a rebate program for private companies wishing to build chargers statewide, according to Ryan McKinnon, spokesperson for the Charge Ahead Partnership, a coalition of businesses and organizations working to expand the free market for EV charging in Colorado.

Xcel Colorado filed its second, three-year Transportation Electrification Plan on May 15, 2023, asking that the commission authorize the company to …