State utility regulators will allow Xcel Energy to keep the Comanche 2 coal-fired power plant in Pueblo open until Dec. 2026, extending a state deadline that would have shuttered the plant in a few weeks.
Originally, Comanche 2 would have closed by Dec. 31, as part of Colorado’s efforts to close its remaining coal plants over the next five years. Those efforts, though, are now being complicated by the Trump administration and concerns over the reliability of Xcel’s own equipment.
The extension was spurred in large part because of the troubles at a neighboring plant: Comanche 3. Despite being Colorado’s newest coal plant, it has been plagued by reliability issues. It’s currently offline and won’t reopen until June.
The one-two punch of losing Comanche 2 — while Comanche 3 is offline — could strain the grid when demand spikes, and could lead to cost increases for customers, according to Xcel, the Colorado Energy Office and other state agencies.
But the move by the Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday to keep the plant open came with serious reservations. Regulators expressed frustration that the costs to repair one plant while keeping another open are murky — even to them.
“We are in the dark for what any of this costs,” said commissioner Megan Gilman. “We are just in a real reliability pickle because once again Unit 3 has broken in a catastrophic way.”
The move dovetails with the Trump administration’s efforts to keep coal plants open, though for vastly different reasons.
National push to preserve coal
President Trump and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright have thrown the weight of the federal government behind bolstering fossil fuels. In May, the Department of Energy ordered a Michigan coal plant to stay open, despite the high costs to do so.
Similar orders may be coming for Colorado. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a Colorado power supplier, is required to close its Craig Unit 1 coal-fired power plant at the end of the year. But it expects an order from the federal government to keep it open, according to spokesperson Mark Stutz.
In October, Representative Jeff Hurd, who represents Pueblo, asked Wright to order Comanche 2 to stay open indefinitely, to address what he claims is a statewide “serious electric reliability crisis.”
In November, Xcel, the Colorado Energy Office and other state agencies petitioned the PUC to keep the lights on at Comanche 2 for another year.
While state officials deny there’s an energy emergency, they believe that a “modest extension” for Comanche 2 could help fill the gap left by Comanche 3’s woes.
Costly repairs and a threat to climate goals
The PUC’s decision cast doubt on other reasons cited by those groups to keep the plant open, like supply chain issues, tariffs and new laws that are impacting Xcel.
The extension also said that ratepayers are not on the hook to pay the costs to repair and run the plants. Xcel can later ask regulators to let it bill those costs back to customers in the form of higher energy bills.
Regulators are also requiring Xcel to submit monthly updates on the costs and status of repairing Comanche 3.
The extension also placed limits on how much power can be generated from both Comanche 2 and 3 if they are both online again in the future, to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
In public comments before the decision, several environmental groups and citizens criticized Xcel’s proposal to keep the plant open. Some said the move was expensive and slow-walked Colorado's climate goals.
“Ratepayers remain on the hook for the billion-dollar debacle of Unit 3, and now Xcel is asking
families and businesses to cover additional costs to keep Unit 2 running past its planned closure,” wrote one commenter.
Erin Overturf, Clean Energy Director at the advocacy group Western Resource Advocates, which requested changes to Xcel’s original proposal, said the commission’s decision placed limits on what Xcel may eventually charge customers.
“The Commission indicated it will adopt common sense guardrails to protect both consumers and the environment from continued operation of Comanche 2 and repair of Comanche 3,” she said.
“We are pleased to see the Commission will hold Xcel accountable.”
