Originally published November 29 2005
Increase in Colorado's natural gas prices make wind power a viable option
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Cost will soon be an advantage of wind power, if price rates continue their current trend in Colorado, where Xcel Energy Inc. will raise its utility rates 30 percent for residents and 31 percent for businesses.
Wind power in Colorado - once a premium-priced product - soon will cost less than electricity generated from conventional sources, thanks to soaring natural gas costs.
Starting Nov. 1, Xcel Energy Inc. will increase its electricity rates 30 percent for residential consumers and 31 percent for business customers.
For Xcel, the move pushes the cost of conventional electricity past the cost of wind power in Colorado for the first time, Xcel spokesman Tom Henley said.
''The reason Windsource became more affordable than (conventional) electricity is because of rising natural gas prices,'' Henley said.
Windsource is Xcel's voluntary program in which participants have agreed to pay more for ''green power'' generated from two wind farms in northeast Colorado.
''If natural gas prices drop, the differential in price could flip back to where it was,'' he said.
Xcel may also have to raise wind power rates because of rising steel costs associated with building wind turbines, Henley added.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission must approve any utility rate change.
The Energy Department on Wednesday forecast that natural gas prices will remain at about $12 per thousand cubic feet throughout the winter, about twice what it cost last winter.
About 48 percent of Xcel's electricity in Colorado is generated from natural gas, 45 percent from coal and the remainder from wind and water.
Xcel currently has about 29,000 Windsource participants in Colorado who pay about $6 more a month for their electricity than customers not in the program.
After Nov. 1, Windsource customers could be paying up to $10 less than those using conventional electricity, Henley said.
Xcel, based in Minneapolis, is Colorado's largest utility and has a total of 43,000 participants in Windsource, with others in Minnesota and New Mexico.
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