Thanks to Xcel’s CEO, Dick Kelly, who opened the door to definitive proof that CapX 2020 is not needed. Use of electricity is plunging, not unlike the financial markets, and if this admitted 4-5% decrease this fall is an indication of forecasts, EEEEEEE-HA, no way is this needed in any of the Certificate of Need criteria. Sure, they’d still want it, but they don’t need it, and it’s NEED they’ve got to prove, remember?

That said, I fired off this Motion today:

Motion for Limited Discovery, and Motion to Reopen or Certify to the Commission

This divebombing use trend has got to get into the record/ Their forecasting was done in 2005, based on 2004 and earlier, and Earth to MARS, a few things have changed.

Who cares? Why is this important? DUH! Xcel’s Kelly says “full steam ahead, build build build” but others aren’t so fool-hardy:

Some feel that the drop heralds a broader change for the industry. Mr. Rogers of Duke Energy says that even in places “where prices were flat to declining,” his company still saw lower consumption. “Something fundamental is going on,” he says.

Michael Morris, the chief executive of AEP, one of the country’s largest utilities, says he thinks the industry should to be wary about breaking ground on expensive new projects. “The message is: be cautious about what you build because you may not have the demand” to justify the expense, he says.

If there’s a 3% drop, rather than a 1-2% increase, that’s a 4-5% difference that kicked them upside the head. And that’s what they’ve admitted to, in the residential sector. Other utilities have admitted to even greater decreses, 3.3%. 7.2% and even 9%! We may not need another power plant for decades, and we sure don’t need no skinkin’ transmission.

So let’s get this in the record. Xcel’s customers decrease use.