Your Next Opportunity To Rein In AI Data Centers in Colorado
Want AI data centers to pay their own way?
Want contracts between utilities & Big Tech in Colorado to be transparent & public?
Now’s the chance to make that a reality.
Colorado families deserve affordable electricity bills – we don’t want to pick up the bill for yet another year of Xcel and Big Tech’s record profits. Fortunately, Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) exists to protect Colorado consumers, like you and me, not utility CEOs and shareholders.
But, they need to hear from us ASAP.
Right now, Xcel is asking the PUC to approve their plan for providing electricity to AI data centers coming to Colorado. That plan includes the potential for higher household energy bills, fast-tracked secret contracts with out-of-state tech companies, and more pollution.
Without statewide guardrails on large-scale data centers, they are already poised to spike our energy bills, guzzle up our drinking water, and increase air and noise pollution. How Xcel chooses to power these data centers can make those problems even worse.
Coloradans deserve better.
We want a Colorado built by – and for – Coloradans and our communities for generations to come, not corporations that are only thinking about their quarterly profits.
Sign our petition to tell the PUC to put people over profits by ensuring Xcel and Big Tech don’t raise our energy bills, pollute our air, and sign secret fast-tracked contracts in the name of cashing in on this AI data center boom.
By submitting this from, you are agreeing to your first name, last name, and zip code being submitted to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission as a signatory on this petition. If you have checked the share boxes for your email and phone number, your full contact information will be shared with Conservation Colorado, Moms Clean Air Force, Sustainable Development Strategies Group, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Healthy Air and Water Colorado, Western Clean Energy Campaign, Empower Our Future, and ProgressNow Colorado to keep you in the loop on this and similar issues. You can remove yourself from any of these lists at any time. No group will ever sell your information. For information on how to submit a public comment directly to the PUC rather than signing this petition, click here.
Dear Commissioners,
We, the signatories of this petition, urge you to adopt a strong Large Load Tariff and Clean Transition Tariff for Xcel Energy that protect Colorado customers, communities, public health and natural resources from the costs and impacts of new large energy users, including data centers.
As you consider Xcel’s Large Load Tariff and Clean Transition Tariff, we ask you to:
Make large energy users pay the full cost of new and existing infrastructure needed to serve them.
Protect other Xcel customers from higher costs and financial risks associated with data center development.
Make clean, renewable energy the fastest and simplest option for large energy users so that new electricity demand does not lead to more fossil fuel use, air pollution or negative health impacts.
Ensure large energy users support Colorado’s climate goals by investing in clean, renewable energy and energy storage. Any generation added in support of new large loads must move Xcel Energy closer to its goal of becoming a net-zero energy provider by 2050.
Protect communities already disproportionately impacted by industrial air and noise pollution from the additional impacts of new large-load customers.
Require transparency and reject Xcel’s proposal for secretive “speed to market” contracts that could allow them to make special deals with large customers instead of following new tariff rules.
Colorado customers should not have to pay the costs or take on the risks of Xcel serving large energy users, and our communities should not bear the burden of more pollution, fossil fuel use or pressure on already limited water supplies.
We urge you to put people before profits and adopt a strong Large Load Tariff and Clean Transition Tariff that protect Coloradans, make large energy users pay their fair share and ensure our energy future is clean, affordable and fair.
THE PETITION
When you take action, you’re joining community advocates from across the state.
Who is Powering an Affordable and Clean Colorado?
Powering an Affordable and Clean Colorado is the voice for affordable energy now and a clean future tomorrow. Why? Because we’re tired of our high energy bills being used to pay for an energy grid designed to line shareholders’ pockets rather than delivering us cheap, reliable energy.
Colorado families are getting squeezed from all sides. We shouldn’t have to decide between putting a meal on the table or paying our utility bills, especially when utility companies continue to propose energy bill increases while raking in record profits year after year. And now Big Tech is trying to skip out on paying their fair share for energy-sucking data centers.
No thanks. We deserve better.
The good news is that we can have a direct impact on lowering our energy bills and keeping our air clean – now and in the decades to come.
After all, it’s your bill. You should get a say. This petition to the PUC is one way to make your voice heard right away.
Join us, Conservation Colorado, Moms Clean Air Force, Healthy Air and Water Colorado, Western Clean Energy Campaign, Empower Our Future, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sustainable Development Strategies Group, and ProgressNow Colorado in building a Colorado energy future that’s affordable, reliable, clean, and homegrown.
What does Xcel have to do with Data centers?
The CEO of Xcel Energy – Colorado’s largest energy provider – recently said he’s working directly with Big Tech companies to determine what the next 10-20 years of Colorado’s energy future will look like.
Xcel has made their intentions clear:
They want to power data centers with expensive, unreliable, and polluting energy sources, like coal and gas, so they can earn a massive return on investment off of Coloradans
They want the opportunity to fast-track secret deals with data center developers, allowing them to skirt the rules and make more money at the expense of local communities
The crux of the issue has become what our state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will allow Xcel Energy to do.
Xcel has two plans in front of the PUC right now – both are up for debate. Because the PUC is little-known in Colorado, public comments and petitions make a HUGE difference. We can show the Commissioners we are watching and we are paying attention.
Coloradans need to raise our voice now to ensure working families aren’t the ones shouldering the costs of the world’s wealthiest corporations’ greed. We want lower bills, cleaner air, and transparency from Xcel and Big Tech.
Xcel is using shady tactics to prove why they need more money and their preferred outcomes:
For example, many data center developers are currently shopping around for the best deals – based on their filing, Xcel seems to be counting each of those inquiries as a real-life project they need to plan for, even if the developers haven’t committed yet. That means Coloradans could be left paying the bill for data centers that never even intended to come here anyway…but at least Xcel’s profits would go up.
Meanwhile, utilities are incentivized to build as much expensive energy infrastructure as they can because they make more money doing that than actually just getting energy to homes and businesses. The returns on their investments in this building spree come from us – ratepayers. We pay them to build all of that, then they take roughly 10% profit off the top.
Xcel is using the potential data center boom to take full advantage of this business model by building the most expensive, inefficient energy possible: Coal. Gas. Diesel turbines. While wind and solar are cheaper to build and more reliable over time, they cut into Xcel’s profit margin. That leaves Colorado footing the bill for more air pollution and worse health… thanks to corporate greed.
Costs are already rising in our beloved state, and we must stand united against Colorado turning into “Corporado,” where families are run out of town while Xcel and Big Tech take over main street!
What does the Public Utilities Commission have to do with data centers?
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is an appointed, three-person board that regulates investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy. The PUC’s mission is to serve “the public interest by effectively regulating utilities and facilities so that the people of Colorado receive safe, reliable, and reasonably-priced services consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state.” The PUC does not write or enact Colorado's laws but has significant authority over how utilities implement those laws.
We’ve all heard about it: an AI data center boom has taken over our country and it’s spiking the energy bills of nearby communities. What you may NOT know is: Big Tech has its eye on Colorado next.
These AI data centers (also known as “hyperscale data centers” or “large-scale data centers”) data centers use enormous amounts of energy. But that’s only part of the equation, they also
Use our drinking water for cooling
Create local noise pollution
Create heat islands
Increase air pollution
Are overwhelmingly powered by dirty, expensive, and volatile energy sources, like coal, diesel, and gas
Colorado is already dealing with sky-high energy bills, a record drought, extreme heat, and bad air. We don’t need AI data centers to make it worse.
Without strong consumer protections, Colorado communities will be left to pay the price for AI data center development through higher energy bills, greater strain on our limited water supplies, and more pollution.
That’s where Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) comes in. They are the state agency that oversees Colorado’s utility companies and ensures customers are being treated fairly.
After all, Coloradans get to choose where we live, but we don’t get to choose what utilities serve our homes. Utilities, like Xcel Energy, are monopolies and we rely on the PUC to keep their monopolistic-greed in check.
The PUC is currently considering a Large Load Tariff for Xcel Energy that would require large energy users, like AI data centers, to pay their fair share of the costs they create, preventing them from being shifted onto other Xcel customers, like you and me.
At the same time, the PUC is considering a Clean Transition Tariff that would help Xcel meet growing electricity demand with more clean energy, like wind and solar, instead of fossil fuels. That means investing in cheaper, more reliable, homegrown energy that actually helps lower our bills rather than just line shareholder pockets.
Together, these rules can help protect our communities from the harms of AI data center development while keeping our bills lower by prioritizing cheap, clean energy (bonus points: clean energy also helps Colorado stay on track to meet our climate goals and better protects the health of Coloradans currently impacted by fossil fuel-related pollution).
The PUC has a responsibility to put people before corporate profits – and tell our utilities to do the same. Fortunately, Coloradans have a say in decisions that could affect our energy bills, communities, health, water and climate future. Now is the time to make sure our voices are heard.