Lawsuit alleges Pueblo's Comanche power plant is failing to 'operate properly'
Sep. 20—Xcel Energy's Comanche 3 coal-fired electric generating plant in Pueblo is at the center of a civil lawsuit filed Sept. 7 by a rural electric association accusing Public Service Company of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel, of failure to operate the plant properly.
Intermountain Rural Electric Association, now operating as CORE Electric Cooperative, alleges lengthy shutdowns at the Pueblo power plant are costing the company "millions of dollars of additional repair and maintenance costs and millions more to purchase replacement power," according to the lawsuit filed in Denver District Court.
When CORE bought into Comanche 3, "it was proposed to be a state-of-the-art electric generating facility" when it opened in 2010 and was projected to have a lifespan of at least 60 years, according to the suit. Xcel is contractually obligated to operate and maintain the plant "with prudent utility practices" to deliver the electric association its percentage share of the electric output.
The plant has suffered "numerous lengthy outages," including one from January of 2020 to January this year. The outages "will ultimately result in the plant being retired from service prematurely," the lawsuit alleges.
The yearlong outage in 2020 was "largely due to a failure of its steam turbine which suffered damage because of years of neglect and the subsequent destruction of its bearings when an employee shut off the lubrication oil feed when the turbine was spinning at high speed," according to the lawsuit filed by Perry Glantz, an attorney for the electric association.
The lawsuit indicates that CORE purchased more than $38.5 million in replacement power during the year-long outage, which resulted in a net additional cost to the electric association of more than $20 million.
"We generally don't comment on pending lawsuits," said Michelle Aguayo, media relations representative for Xcel Energy. "That said, Xcel Energy remains committed to ensuring the safe, reliable operation of the plant through its proposed retirement in 2040."
"Comanche 3 is one of the lowest-cost generating plants on our system and has proven valuable to the system over its life," Aguayo said.
The lawsuit also alleges the Colorado Public Utilities Commission determined that operation and maintenance practices were substandard at Comanche 3 and a commission staff report identified at least two occurrences of "poor or inadequate maintenance."
The electric association, headquartered in Sedalia, serves customers in the Castle Rock and Woodland Park areas. The lawsuit requests a jury trial and asks thaunspecified monetary damages, as well as attorney's fees and costs, be awarded to the electric utility.
Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.
