With the closure of Hayden Station approaching, Routt County and Hayden are at a crossroads, facing not only the loss of a major economic engine, but also the challenge of ensuring a just transition for workers and the broader community. 

At the regular meeting of the Routt County commissioners on Tuesday, local residents and stakeholders gathered for an educational presentation hosted by the Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate, aimed to demystify the complex regulatory process and prepare the public for Thursday’s critical Public Utilities Commission hearing in Hayden.

Routt County and Hayden are seeking an $89 million unified settlement from Xcel Energy to help offset the sweeping economic impacts of the Hayden Station’s 2028 closure.

The plant has long been an economic cornerstone of both the local community and the county, and its loss threatens hundreds of jobs as well as the financial stability of local schools, fire protection and medical services.

The closure of Hayden Station threatens around 65 direct jobs — many of them among the best-paying in the region — and puts at risk another 186 jobs in the greater community.

The loss of the plant’s property taxes, about $4.3 million annually, would place a substantial burden on local schools, fire protection and medical services. The Hayden School District alone faces a $2.7 million annual shortfall, representing over a quarter of its overall budget.

Commissioners and advocates have argued that Xcel’s current offer — $16 million over six years — falls short, especially compared to the 10-year support package offered to Pueblo County for the closure of Comanche Generating Station. 

The Tuesday presentation was led by UCA Deputy Director Joe Pereira, who described the UCA as a “small government office” within the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.

“Our first and foremost job is to represent the public interest before the commission,” Pereira said. “We’re an advocate, not a regulator. We don’t make any decisions, we only give our perspective and present advocacy.”

Pereira walked the attendees through the PUC’s process, outlining its basic purpose as well as its dual quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial roles.

“The PUC is a regulatory body that was established to oversee utility service in a variety of areas. They are statutorily mandated to give consideration to the public interest,” said Pereira. “Their job is to figure out what that means.”

“In their quasi-legislative goal, their role is trying to figure out what are the details of the law, and it’s also quasi-judicial,” he continued. “The way these cases are laid out, there are lots of advocacy positions: the UCA, and there’s the utility, there’s environmental groups, there’s municipalities, so these cases have a lot of positions in them, and their job is to be the judge.” 

“The applicant files their direct case. The applicant here is Xcel Energy,” said Pereira. “So they have filed a case that says, ‘We have resource needs coming into the future, and we need the commission to decide how we move forward on those needs.’ The utility initiates the process and they’re the first ones to lay out the case.”

After Xcel’s filing, the PUC notifies the public and invites interested parties, such as the UCA, local governments and environmental groups, to intervene, Pereira explained. The process then moves through phases of answer testimony, rebuttal testimony and public hearings. 

“There were … 50 different witnesses that presented answer testimony,” Pereira said. “Right now, it’s kind of a silent period where parties are thinking about what they want to say about the other parties.”

“Have you ever seen a filing like this before?” asked Commissioner Tim Redmond.

“Yes and no,” Pereira replied. “It’s very typical in what we would see in an energy resource plan in that the documents are predictable and the analysis they’re giving is pretty normal. But the size and scale of this is something that we have never seen before.”

“The issues like just transition and workforce transition are new because the decisions to close Comanche and Craig and Hayden are pretty new as well,” he continued. “And then we have this very new factor called data centers … That’s the first time we’ve ever seen something like this.”

Data center growth, said Pereira, is driving unprecedented increases in projected electricity demand across the country.

“The plan that (Xcel) filed is huge … the new projected load is somewhere between 12,000 and 14,000 megawatts,” said Pereira, who believes the current public service load to be around 8,000 megawatts. “Some of this is related to the state’s beneficial electrification goals … but the large, large driver is data center growth. These are all the facilities that will be used so we can quickly type into our phone and figure out all this new information and ChatGPT and all the stuff that is related to (artificial intelligence).” 

“We just went through a process with one data center and the projection of that data center coming online for Xcel,” he added. “When that data center is fully built out, it will immediately become public service’s largest customer in Colorado.”

He also noted incentives for new energy projects and efforts to encourage economic development, including putting data centers in just transition communities. 

Pereira then gave an overview of how the Thursday public hearing will work and provided suggestions on how members of the public can most effectively engage with the commissioners.

“If you come to speak, plan on having about two to three minutes, and they’ll be pretty strict about adhering to that timeline,” said Pereira. “It’s my thought that in two to three minutes, it’s better to come prepared than to try to just speak off the cuff … my suggestion is to consider writing down your comments if you can and practicing.”

He encouraged speakers to introduce themselves, explain how the decision affects them and offer a recommendation. 

“Tell them who you are. Tell them what you know about the PUC … because they’re going to want to know what is your motivation or how does this affect you, and also, how are you personally related to this issue,” Pereira said. “Give them a recommendation: ‘I recommend you support the answer testimony put forward by this party,’ or ‘I recommend you consider this.'”

“You don’t have to act like you think a government official might act or a lawyer might act. Be yourself,” he added. “Use the natural language you would always use.” 

The public hearing will take place 4-6 p.m. Thursday at the Hayden Center. All three PUC commissioners will be present to hear public comment. 

“They will be here to hear comment, but they will not engage in dialogue,” Pereira clarified, noting that the commissioners would be in their “quasi-judicial role” and would likely not be answering questions. 

Written comments can also be submitted up until the close of the hearing period in mid- to late-June, according to County Commissioner Macys. She said the proceeding as a whole “allegedly” concludes Aug. 7. 

“Members of the community can be the most impactful in making comment when the commissioners are here,” said Pereira. “The public comment for this commission matters … this is a good opportunity for voices to be heard within this boring administrative process.”