Platte River Power Authority (PRPA, also know as Public Relations Power Authority) has a new dance called the Gas Plant Boondoggle Boogalow! The first step is they spin you around by telling you that five new gas plants are needed to cover “dark calms” when the sun don’t shine and the wind won’t blow. Next, they do-si-do, claiming it will only cost $250 million! Then, when you ask if they looked at alternatives, they dip you to the floor, saying “that’s not needed.” When you ask if they had anyone else look at this plan, they throw you up to the rafters and step aside so you fall right on your ass on the hard wood floor. If you bring up that PRPA is joining the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), who provides lower cost power during “dark calms”, then PRPA leaves the dance floor and turns off the lights. It’s the new dance craze all the fossil fuel executives are raving about!
That’s what it’s felt like “working with” PRPA since they announced plans to build five new gas turbines in 2022. So, to get serious here, in 2018 PRPA announced the retirement of the coal plant in 2030. They claimed then that they would go 100% renewable to replace the coal plant. In 2022, they said, “Naw, we’re gonna build more gas instead.”
Here are their justifications for more gas, and the questions/objections that have gone unanswered:
PRPA: The new gas plants are needed to provide 5 minute ramp up speed when solar/wind die down
Us: Don’t batteries provide a near instanteneous ramp up? Xcel in MN is buying batteries to fill this need, cheaper than gas.
The gas plants are needed to cover “dark calms” when wind/sun aren’t available for multiple days
PRPA is joining SPP in 2026. SPP is a power market stretching from MN to AZ. The whole point of joining is to get access to cheaper power from other regions when local renewables can’t get the job done. SPP manages the market specifically for this purpose. (PRPA admits their new gas plants would very rarely be used because of this)
PRPA already has five existing gas plants to complement SPP if needed
In 2022, a new gas plant is the cheapest alternative available at $250 million
May we see what alternatives you looked at? -”No”
In 2025 the cost has ballooned to $625 million. Will you reexamine alternatives? -”No”
Will you get an independent audit of the need for new gas plants? -“No”
In 2022, the gas plants are required to show that PRPA has enough reserve capacity to join SPP
Not according to SPP’s 2026 data, or PRPA’s own 2025 data
So they won’t answer our questions. They won’t provide evidence to support their claims. The evidence they do supply suggests the gas plants aren’t needed. The cost has skyrocketed in three years to over $3000 per household not including financing or fuel costs (with two more years to keep growing). They still refuse to look at alternatives when other utilities are finding cheaper options. What the hell is going on here!?
Well, Jason Frisbee, PRPA CEO, has said, “We don’t know how to do solar. We know how to do gas.” He said he got really expensive battery estimates, but he won’t share them. He said, “There will be hundreds of these [gas plants] built across the country in the next few years. …If the [gas] technology becomes obsolete in ten years, then we’ll just sell them.” (Longmont City Council meeting 10/24/23) Who is going to buy obsolete technology? The best that we can surmise is that PRPA is stuck in the past and they want to continue to rely on 20th century fossil fuel technology, because that’s what they know. Public interest be damned.
The other, more cynical, but completely believable, point of view is that PRPA needs to add debt to the balance sheets of Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, and Estes Park to keep us tied to PRPA’s existence. These four Cities are responsible for PRPA’s debt and will have to continue to pay for PRPA, even we don’t use their services, or else declare PRPA bankrupt and face degraded credit ratings and not be able to borrow money (maybe a good thing??) The energy co-op (discussed on another post) can supplant 50% of our need for PRPA. The executives at PRPA are not too keen on this. Even though PRPA is a non-profit, the CEO is paid over $1million per year. The public relations director and four other execs are paid over $500k. I wonder if that has anything to do with them not wanting a co-op that keeps electric dollars in the community instead of going to PRPA? And why does PRPA even have a public relations department? They are owned by their customers (FTC, Loveland, Longmont, and EP) and their mission is to serve the ratepayers. What are they even publicly relationsing about? They won’t release their PR budget (even under CORA request), but they buy expensive radio ads and pay the frickin PR director $500K, so we know it’s millions of our ratepayer dollars they spend on advertising about… I guess why they aren’t pursuing policy in the ratepayer interest.
It wasn’t always like this. PRPA was created in the early 1970s to provide reliable, affordable electricity to the owner communities. And they did this very well until the energy landscape changed under their feet. Along about 2010 customers started asking PRPA to develop energy efficiency assistance programs. No longer was the job just, “Build more plants. Shovel more coal.”
I can imagine the execs saying, “You want us to help reduce the demand for our product? You want us to go into peoples’ homes and businesses and do weatherization, and lighting retrofits, and insulation? How the hell are we supposed to know how to do that? And isn’t that kind of a conflict of interest, seeing as how we sell the product that you want to reduce?” And now in 2025, on top of that, PRPA is in charge of local solar programs in the four cities that are meant to reduce demand for their product even more! It’s no wonder they set the goals for local energy at 5% when the potential is north of 50%. We put the fox in charge of the hen house and then left for vacation.
And that takes us back to the Gas Plant Boondoggle Boogalow. We can change the dance. The plant isn’t built yet. The Mayors of the four cities, and four City appointed reps make up the board of directors of PRPA. They can direct PRPA to get an independent audit of the gas plan. It is incumbent upon them, as official representatives of the ratepayers, to seek and implement the most affordable options.
But we gotta tell em! And we have to hold them accountable. Thank you for reading and raising your awareness. The next step is to send an email to the Mayor. Say what you like but be sure to tell her/him that you want an independent audit of PRPA’s gas plant plan.
Fort Collins Mayor Emily Francis: efrancis@fortcollinsgov.com
Longmont Mayor Susie Hildago-Fahring: Susie.Hidalgo-Fahring@longmontcolorado.gov
Loveland Mayor Patrick McFall: Patrick.McFall@cityofloveland.org
Estes Park Mayor Gary Hall: ghall@estes.org
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Resources:
Northern Colorado Partners for Clean Energy letter Larimer County re: PRPA gas plant permit