Colorado Greenlights Xcel's $143M Energy Efficiency Plan

DENVER -- Xcel Energy's (XEL Quote) plan for providing energy through 2015 includes an aggressive energy efficiency program that could save the equivalent of a coal-fired plant.

The plan approved this month by Colorado regulators calls for Xcel Energy to spend $63 million next year and $80 million in 2010 on demand-side management -- programs aimed at cutting demand by households and businesses.

The utility, Colorado's largest, is spending about $20 million this year on energy efficiency.

Xcel Energy spokesman Mark Stutz said Monday that the plan projects saving 694 megawatts of electricity. That would nearly be the equivalent of a new unit being built at an Xcel coal-fired power plant in Pueblo. ...