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Page 1 of 2 <br />The Denver Post <br />Xcel: Colo. bid rule imperils plant plans <br />By Steve Raabe <br />Denver Post Staff Writer <br />Thursday, September 02, 2004 - <br />Xcel Energy will drop its proposal for a new coal -fired power plant in Pueblo if Colorado regulators <br />don't exempt the utility from state bidding rules. <br />Xcel CEO Wayne Brunetti said Wednesday that Xcel is the only logical company to build the $1.3 <br />billion power plant. <br />Said Brunetti, "We would walk away from it" if the Colorado Public Utilities Commission doesn't <br />approve Xcel's request for an exemption from competitive- bidding requirements. <br />Xcel proposed this year the 750 - megawatt expansion of the Comanche generating station in <br />Pueblo as the biggest single component of a new plan to provide power for Colorado's growing <br />needs. <br />State regulations adopted in 2002, and supported then by Xcel, require competitive bids for the <br />construction of any power station of more than 250 megawatts. <br />One megawatt serves about 1,000 people. <br />Xcel's request for a bidding exemption is being contested by the Colorado Independent Energy <br />Association, a group of unregulated power producers. <br />Nick Muller, executive director of the group, said Xcel's threat to withdraw from the project is <br />intended to put pressure on the PUC. <br />"If it's a good project for the ratepayers, it ought to be able to withstand the competition that <br />comes from the bidding rules," Muller said. <br />But Brunetti said Xcel is the only entity with the financial power and expertise to build the plant. <br />"We are the logical builders," he said. "We run coal plants extremely well." <br />The commission is expected to rule on Xcel's bidding- exemption request in November. <br />"The decision will be based on the facts of the case and not by any ultimatum issued by a <br />regulated company," the PUC's Barbara Fernandez said. <br />Brunetti's remarks came before a speech he gave Wednesday in Denver to the World Renewable <br />Energy Congress. <br />Xcel is touting its "green energy" credentials even as it seeks defeat of a renewable- energy <br />initiative on November's ballot. <br />Brunetti said the utility is committed to increasing its share of electricity generation from <br />http:// www. denverpost. com/ eda/article /print/0,1674,36 %7E33 %7E2374569,00.html 9/3/2004 <br />