Has the ground shifted on the ‘clean energy transition’?

Xcel Energy’s recently filed rate case apparently assumed a different election outcome.

The Friday before this month’s election, Xcel Energy, the state’s largest utility, filed a new electric rate case in Minnesota, asking the state Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) for permission to raise rates by almost 10 percent next year, with an additional almost 4 percent increase in 2026.

That, somehow, qualifies as the “good” news. The bad news is that the future Xcel envisions to comply with state renewable energy mandates relies on billions of dollars in Federal funding (your tax dollars).

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported earlier this month, post-election,

[S]tate law requires carbon-free power generation in Minnesota by 2040. Many utilities are baking [Inflation Reduction Act] IRA money into their future plans to meet climate goals.

Xcel Energy is planning roughly $13 billion in spending before 2030 in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Xcel and other electric utilities are now caught between a rock and a hard place: state mandates will remain on the books, but the money expected to subsidize the transition may not be there, as expected.

The Star Tribune quotes Xcel,

Xcel spokesman Theo Keith said the company uses IRA credits and grants to lower electricity rates for customers and is working to “educate lawmakers on the many positive impacts for their constituents.”

Truth be told, continued Federal support of this effort is not sustainable, with the national debt standing at $36 trillion (with a “t”) and climbing. That well has run dry.

Renewable energy advocates claim that it’s too late to turn away from their utopian goals. Perhaps. But it will inevitably fall on energy consumers to pay the price in higher rates and worsened reliability.