Boulder's Energy Future -  Goals & Objectives

When Boulder voters approved ballot Initiatives 2B and 2C in November 2011, they authorized the city to investigate the feasibility of creating a municipal utility.

The city’s overall goal in this effort is to ensure Boulder residents and businesses have access to reliable power that is increasingly clean and competitively priced.  Our community has also said it wants as much of its energy as possible to be generated locally and wants more of a say in decision-making about where our power comes from, what we pay for it and what investments are made with the revenues.

Creating the Electric Utility of the Future has been guided by the following objectives:

• Ensure a stable, safe and reliable energy supply
• Ensure competitive rates, balancing short- and long-term interests
• Significantly reduce carbon emissions to improve environmental quality
• Provide Boulder energy customers with a greater say about their energy supply
• Promote local economic vitality
• Promote social and environmental justice

 Download a copy of the DRAFT Purpose, Framework, Goals and Objectives

Ensure a stable, safe and reliable energy supply

System Management, Maintenance and Customer Care

Provides experienced and professional management of the local utility grid, including ongoing investment in maintenance and system improvement, and a strong customer-service ethic in responding to emergencies, daily maintenance and long-term grid investment.

System Redundancy, Supply Quality and Load Management

Creates redundant generation resources to ensure a stable energy supply; creates generation resources that provide high-quality electrical supply; and manages the peak load to minimize necessary investment in new generation resources.

Fuel Source Stability

Reduces reliance on fossil fuel sources that may be subject to supply shortages and price volatility – and in the case of renewables. intermittency; takes into account potential fuel supply risks and disruptions and provides suitable mechanisms to manage such risks.

System Reliability

Uses industry standard criteria (CADI, CAIFI, SAIDI, SAIFI) to track, predict and model system reliability; ensure strict compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the federal agency charged with enforcing reliability standards for utilities.

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Ensure competitive rates, balancing short-term and long-term interests

Rate Competitiveness

Positions Boulder residents and businesses to receive predictable energy prices; provides a structure and process for continuous rate management to meet the changing needs of the community.

Rate Transparency and Predictability

Allows for full transparency in all charges included in energy rates; provides the ability to fully evaluate fuel cost price risks.

Technology Investment and Managing Price Volatility

Provides a path to maximize the use of high-value electricity such as on-site solar that coincides with peak power demand; creates renewable energy investment opportunities for Boulder residents and businesses and access to the associated benefits; and reduces the impact of market based fluctuations in fuel and labor expenses.

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Significantly reduce carbon emissions to improve environmental quality

Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Considers all environmental and health costs of the associated fuel mix; maximizes utilization of the least carbon intensive fuel sources; supports local testing of new, innovative "carbon-free" and pollution reducing technologies; and provides the ability to accurately predict and set specific future targets for emission reductions based on demand side efforts and fuel sources along with the flexibility to continually decarbonize Boulder's fuel mix over time.

Reduction of Toxic Pollutants

Reduces other pollutants such as mercury, particulates and various nitrous and sulfurous emissions; and considers the full range of environmental and health risks and costs associated with the fuel mix.

Protection from cost of Future Regulation

Minimizes the risk to ratepayers from future carbon costs and legislation along with other environmental regulations such as mercury and particulate controls.

Optimize the Smart Grid

Promotes current and future energy investments built on the Smart Grid infrastructure in order to provide options to customers that further reduce emissions; encourages new and innovative ways to maximize investment in local distributed generation and considers new opportunities for energy storage, on-site generation and electric vehicle integration.

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Provide Boulder Energy Customers with a Greater Say About Their Energy Supply

Democratizing Local Decision Making

Allows Boulder residents and businesses to have control over their energy resources by influencing which power and heat generation facilities are built in the Boulder region as well as resource planning and procurement; involves local workers and businesses; and creates opportunity for local input and decision making about rates, generation mix, efficiency and demand management efforts; supports incentives for distributed generation and decisions to implement innovative technologies.

Democratizing Local Ownership

Creates new opportunities for local ownership in distributed energy generation through innovative program designs (clean energy clusters, zero energy districts, solar gardens, etc.) and new forms of financing vehicles (general improvement districts, Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), third-party models, on-bill and PACE financing, etc.).

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Promote Local Economic Vitality

Support for Local Business Innovation

Maximizes opportunities to partner with local companies to implement innovative energy generation, storage, conservation and pollution-reduction technologies; maximizes investment in local businesses; reduces financial out-flows to purchase fuel and technology from external sources; and allows local businesses to become part of the local energy supply infrastructure.

Economic Competitiveness

Stimulates Boulder's economic competitiveness by ensuring stable and predictable energy rates; makes Boulder an attractive location for clean energy businesses and start-ups; capitalizes on the proximity of Boulder's university and Federal research laboratories and other private sector and institutional partners; and provides incentives and benefits for clean energy clusters and innovative energy start-up companies.

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Promote Social and Environmental Justice

Energy Equality

Provides programs and incentives for all populations to participate in efficiency programs and distributed generation through efforts such as Community Solar Gardens, on-bill financing and choice of rate structure.

Impacts to Vulnerable Populations

Shelters Boulder residents and business from projected short- and long-term rate increases through fuel supply choices and demand-side programs; provides additional resources for affordable housing and multifamily units; optimizes local energy-related employment opportunities; considers the full range of social impacts of energy generation, transmission and distribution, including jobs created or lost and health risks to energy workers.

Energy Literacy

Provides the ability to continually improve community input and energy literacy; helps communicate the link between personal choices and environmental and economic impacts; provides assistance to understand energy conservation and efficiency measures and their impact on economic concerns; supports neighborhood energy planning, and an overall understanding of energy efficiency, renewable generation and workforce development.

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Last Updated on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 17:39