JURY FINDS XCEL BREACHED CONTRACT AND WAS NEGLIGENT; AWARDS CORE $26.45M
On Oct. 25, a Denver district court jury found in favor of CORE in its lawsuit against Public Service Company of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc. (Xcel), regarding the mismanagement of the Comanche Unit 3 coal-fired power plant. CORE was awarded $26.45 million for lengthy outages on 2020 and 2022 caused by Xcel’s imprudent operations and negligence.
“This verdict will at least partly compensate CORE for damages caused by the systemic failures of Xcel to prudently operate Comanche 3, which negatively impacted our member-owners. We look forward to moving on from this lawsuit as the next step in our independent power future,” said CORE CEO Jeff Baudier.
CORE filed the lawsuit in September 2021, alleging that Xcel breached its contractual obligations related to the operation and maintenance of Comanche 3, of which CORE owns a 25.33% interest. The plant, located near Pueblo, has significantly underperformed peer facilities in net output, availability and outage rate, and will be retired nearly 40 years short of its planned production life.
Trial updates (October 2023)
Testimony Schedule:
The remainder of the trial is Xcel Energy’s testimony; the trial is still on schedule for completion at the end of the month.
Tuesday, Oct. 24
- Closing arguments are scheduled for today
Thursday, Oct. 12
- Jeff Baudier, CORE CEO, testified
- CORE subject matter expert testified
Wednesday, Oct. 11
- Chris Hildred, CORE Power Supply Director, testified
- CORE subject matter expert testified
- Stephen Figueroa, CORE Commercial Operations Director, testified
- Dede Jones, CORE Chief Financial Officer, testified
Tuesday, Oct. 10
- CORE subject matter experts testified
- Chris Hildred, CORE Power Supply Director, testified
Monday, Oct. 9
- Pam Feuerstein, CORE Chief Operating Officer, testified
- CORE subject matter experts testified
Friday, Oct. 6
- CORE subject matter experts testified
- Pam Feuerstein, CORE Chief Operating Officer, testified
Thursday, Oct. 5
- CORE subject matter experts and PUC subject matter expert testified
Wednesday, Oct. 4
- Opening statements were made
- Timothy White, CORE Board President, testified
- Patrick Mooney, former CORE Chief Executive Officer, testified
Tuesday, Oct. 3
- Jury selection took place
Xcel Energy dispute update (September 2022)
Dear CORE member:
CORE Electric Cooperative has taken steps to withdraw from Comanche Unit 3 power plant ownership and has demanded that Public Service Company of Colorado (subsidiary of Xcel Energy) purchase the plant back under our contractual arrangements. We have sent a formal notice of withdrawal, triggering the withdrawal process.
Despite every effort by CORE to be heard, PSCo has ignored our rights and driven this plant to dysfunction through mismanagement and incompetence. As PSCo’s mismanagement of Comanche Unit 3 continues, we must take this step to protect your interests. We are finalizing new contracts to secure clean, reliable, and affordable energy supplies for CORE’s long-term future. We will keep you updated on this process.
I will continue to update you as the October 2023 trial date approaches.
Sincerely,
Jeff Baudier
Chief Executive Officer
CORE Electric Cooperative
Important update from the CEO (May 2022)
Dear CORE Member,
Today, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of our members against Public Service Company of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, Inc (Xcel). The lawsuit alleges that Xcel breached its contractual obligations related to delivery of power to CORE from the Comanche 3 power plant located in Pueblo, CO.
We are committed to providing affordable, reliable power to you. Xcel’s breach of contract unjustifiably increased our power costs and damaged an asset co-owned by CORE. This suit is necessary to hold them accountable.
We only pursued this course of action after many months of attempted business resolution and extensive consultation with our legal and technical advisors.
We will continue to keep you updated with relevant details as this case progresses.
Sincerely,
Jeff Baudier
Chief Executive Officer
CORE Electric Cooperative
Legal Filings & Documents
September 2022
February 2022
- First Amended Complaint and Jury Demand
- Exhibit A – JOA
- Exhibit B – O&M Agreement
- Exhibit C – Decision Opening Investigation
- Exhibit D – Public Staff Report, Volume 1
- Exhibit E – Structural Integrity Report
- Exhibit F – The Hunt Report
- Exhibit G-1 – The GE Report, Part One
- Exhibit G-2 – The GE Report, Part Two
- Exhibit H – PSCo Root Cause Report and Appendix
- Exhibit I – Human Performance Team Analysis
- Exhibit J – Notice of Claim Letter
- Exhibit K – Second Notice of Claim Letter
September 2021
Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Proceedings
Media Coverage
- “Next with Kyle Clark” – KUSA, 9/15/2022
- “A heat wave wasn’t the only reason Xcel Energy locked customers out of their thermostats — their largest coal plant broke down” – Colorado Public Radio, 9/12/2022
- “Blaming Xcel, electric coop says it’s withdrawing partial ownership of Comanche power plant” – Colorado Politics, 9/8/2022
- “Colorado’s largest electric cooperative no longer wants to own a piece of the state’s troubled Comanche coal plant” – Colorado Public Radio, 9/7/2022
- “CORE pulls out of Comanche 3 coal-fired plant, alleging ‘ongoing mismanagement’” – Power Engineering, 9/6/2022
- “Comanche 3’s shaky reason to exist” – Big Pivots, 4/7/2022
- “Will Comanche unit make 20 years?” – Big Pivots, 3/16/2022
- “Xcel Energy’s troubled Comanche 3 coal plant down again; regulators want to know why” – The Denver Post, 2/24/2022
- “Comanche 3 idled once again” – Big Pivots, 2/17/2022
- “Comanche 3 minority owner sues Xcel Energy” – Big Pivots, 9/8/2021
- “Cost of wholesale electricity nearly doubled for Colorado co-op suing Xcel Energy, its partner in Comanche 3” – The Colorado Sun, 9/8/2021
- “Electric cooperative sues Xcel Energy over Comanche coal plant’s output” – The Denver Post, 9/8/2021
- “Co-op Accuses Xcel of Coal Plant Mismanagement, Deception” – RTO Insider, 9/7/2021