On November 6, 2025, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (the Colorado Commission) approved Public Service Company of Colorado’s (PSCo) 2024 Just Transition Solicitation. PSCo’s 2024 Just Transition Solicitation is a combination of resource planning and resource procurement, which included a draft request for proposals (RFP).
Several parties submitted testimony on PSCo’s 2024 Just Transition, including Colorado Commission Staff, Utility Consumer Advocate, Colorado Energy Office, Interwest Energy Alliance (Interwest), Colorado Energy Consumers, Western Resource Advocates, Colorado Independent Energy Association, Coalition for Community Solar Access, Colorado Solar and Storage Association, Solar Energy Industries Association, Advanced Energy United, and more.
The Colorado Commission adopted several conditions on the RFP. First, the Colorado Commission approved two phases of the RFP (the base RFP and supplemental RFP). Second, the Colorado Commission approved an incremental need pool for additional acquisition of resources in between the base RFP and the supplemental RFP or following the supplemental RFP. A bid that is not selected can elect to remain in the incremental need pool and be paid up to an annual cap of the lesser of $3 million or $10,000/MW/year per bid to remain exclusive to PSCo for not less than one year, up to a two-year term. The Colorado Commission adopted a 10 percent cap on price refreshes for any bid selected from the incremental need pool. Third, the Colorado Commission approved a transmission adder for bids in the RFP but ordered PSCo to recalculate the adder. Fourth, the Colorado Commission directed PSCo to remove a prohibition on out of state utility-owned bids. Fifth, the Colorado Commission directed PSCo to develop a detailed non-price scoring matrix. Sixth, the Colorado Commission adopted Staff’s proposal related to passthrough of costs related to tariff changes. Seventh, the Colorado Commission approved PSCo’s proposal to charge bidders a second refundable fee for projects that begin contract negotiations.
Finally, the Colorado Commission adopted PSCo’s proposal for a conforming bid policy against several parties’ recommendations. Interwest opposed the conforming bid policy but proposed many changes to the power purchase agreements (PPAs) if the Colorado Commission was inclined to approve the conforming bid policy. The Colorado Commission ordered the following changes to the PPAs: reimbursement to projects for any costs above $10/kW to comply with any market changes; reduced post commercial operation date (COD) security to $125/kW; revise availability requirements to match previous RFP requirements; remove remedy of specific performance; remove PSCo’s remedy option to unilaterally purchase and own project in the event of default; remove critical path development milestones and associated penalties that were in addition to general pre-COD milestones; add exceptions to events that did not qualify for force majeure if the underlying cause was due to an independent event of force majeure; change the notice requirement for force majeure to start when the party becomes aware of the force majeure event; remove force majeure carve out for labor strikes, slowdowns, work stoppages, or other labor disruptions; add any delay or failure by the transmission authority under the Interconnection Agreement is an event of force majeure; and more.
Irion Sanger of Sanger Greene, PC was an expert witness for Interwest regarding PSCo’s RFP. Interwest is a regional, member-based advocacy organization seeking to grow market opportunities for grid-scale renewable energy projects. With a regional focus, Interwest works to develop relationships and advance policy to transition the West to a renewable grid.
Disclaimer
These materials are intended to as informational and are not to be considered legal advice or legal opinion, nor do they create a lawyer-client relationship. Information included about previous case results does not assure a similar future result.
