By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, July 9 -- The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is considering doing away with existing rules for forecasting and planning for the state's electric generation needs.
Comments are due Monday on questions posed by the PUC about the adequacy of the integrated resource planning rules first adopted in 1992. Under the rules, Colorado utilities file forecasts of generation needs with the PUC every 3 years for the next 6 years for review.
The review was prompted by questions over whether the outcome of the evaluation of the need for added generation was a "PUC decision or a utility decision," said spokesman Barbara Fernandez. She said comments would not be filed until today's deadline nears.
The commission asked interested parties to comment on whether the integrated resources planning process should be eliminated or revamped, and, if so, what concepts or principles should be retained from the present rules.
Presently, utilities take bids for new generation and the commission wants to know if the process allows for fair bidding to attract competitors. Also at issue is whether the existing system insures reliability.
The commission also wants to know how to provide "better price signals to customers, to better match peak use with peak costs," or if better price signals could replace demand side management and/or renewable objectives.
The commission asked for comments on numerous other issues, including:
� Do existing rules adequately establish service reliability and lowest cost of service as fundamental objectives?
� How should legislative requirements mandating utility investment in energy efficiency be implemented?
� Without the current rules, how can avoided costs be determined for generators that fall under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act?
� Do the current rules adequately address forecasting? How can better forecasting requirements be implemented?
� Should transmission adequacy be addressed in commission rules? If so, how should it be incorporated into existing rules?
� In what ways to the rules impede development of capital intensive and/or other large plants, including coal and nuclear facilities? How can the process be improved?
Fernandez said with all the talk of building new coal-fired power plants, questions had arisen over whether they could be planned and built in a timely fashion under the integrated resource planning rules now in place.
The commission has set a July 19 meeting to hear public comments on its questions.