By Patrick Murphy
I hope negotiations with Xcel Energy are going well and Boulder has added a level of humility to compensate for the incredibly bad history of the municipalization effort, which is more of a propaganda effort than a critical evaluation representing Boulder citizens. About half of the Boulder community is vehemently opposed to “the muni” waste of 10 years and loss of more than $33 million.
Muni supporters need to learn what the value of a highly regulated monopoly is versus an unregulated Boulder monopoly.
Here’s a real example of what the Boulder water utility monopoly has done to Boulder versus what the regulated Xcel monopoly has done to my monthly bills. I compared my July 2014 and 2019 water and electric bills. I’ve had a solar lease since 2011 and include my monthly lease payments of $37.
My water bill in 2014 for 5,000 gallons was $35, but in 2019 for 3,000 gallons (or 40 percent less water), the bill was $63. My 2014 electric bill was $70 and in 2019 was $52.
My Boulder unregulated water utility monopoly bill went up more than 80 percent and my Xcel regulated electric monopoly bill went down 25 percent. And this doesn’t include Boulder’s 2020 rate increases.
Xcel has increased renewable energy use, shut down coal plants and reduced carbon more than 10 times Boulder’s electric usage, while Boulder has been wasting time and money for 10 years. Muni supporters, look in the muni mirror and see the failures and snap out of the denial. We need to end the muni and let real carbon reduction begin now, not five years from now. We need to collaborate, not litigate.
Letters to the editor and guest opinions that support the muni effort are based on Xcel hate and fail to critically evaluate the failures of the muni. Xcel hatred is not based on Xcel’s rapid reduction in carbon – although faster would be better – but simply because it is a corporate monopoly. Here is a shocking fact to many: Boulder is an unregulated corporate monopoly.
Xcel has the Public Utilities Commission and the Office of Consumer Counsel watching every decision and regulating every action and rate change. Boulder has none of that, and the results, as shown above, are proof that we citizens suffer under poor leadership, bad legal decisions and financial shenanigans.
I have lived here in Boulder for half a century and have seen the amazing things Boulder has done to make this town a nice place to live. The muni effort has crushed that history of wisdom with arrogant denial and the inability to admit making a bad decision.
We have some backroom Xcel negotiations to get back on course for real carbon reduction through collaboration. If there isn’t an announcement of a negotiated ballot issue to that effect, “End The Muni” will come roaring back to demand that the muni waste come to an end and demand that money be used for real carbon reduction.
The muni effort was forced to stop petition signature collection for 41 days due to the stay-at-home order. In the remaining 37 days, we collected 66 percent of the required signatures and would easily be on the ballot if we had those 41 days back.
The City Council can put any issue on the ballot it wants. If there isn’t a negotiated ballot item, then “End The Muni” has a right to be on the ballot.
Let the City Council know that you know that is true. Email the Boulder City Council (council@bouldercolorado.gov) and support “End The Muni” at EndTheMuni.org. There you can find a long list of the muni failures that muni supporters just ignore.
Boulder collects about $8 million in carbon taxes each year. About $4 million goes into the general fund and is not used for carbon reduction. About $2 million is used for Boulder’s Climate Action Plan (CAP), and although there is some carbon reduction accomplished, it is pitifully small, and includes sending one employee to a conference in Maui, Hawaii.
In the past, some of that CAP budget included paying employees to work 60 percent to 80 percent of their time on the muni. About $5 million total from other city departments has been spent on the muni, but not all are billed to the muni. This is deceit.
The muni effort has been based on promises with no price tags and is a bureaucracy that evaluates itself. We have been fed propaganda. The council needs to see this and we need to end the muni.
Patrick Murphy is a botanist/plant ecologist who has lived in Boulder for 50 years and followed the municipalization effort since 2011.
"Opinion" - Google News
July 25, 2020 at 05:04AM
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Guest opinion: Patrick Murphy: Time to end ‘the muni’ - The Daily Camera
"Opinion" - Google News
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