About Rob Clark
In a September 2024 interview, Rob Clark, Senior VP, Chief Communications Officer & Chief of Staff at Xcel Energy, addressed the company's recent rate increases. He stated that the dollars received from customers for base rates, particularly for the natural gas system, are primarily used to fund safety and reliability, with about 60% of the investment in a recent case going to safety, reliability, and mandatory relocations. Clark said that Xcel Energy buys gas commodity wholesale without markup, so customers see fluctuations immediately, and noted that gas commodity costs were about 28% lower than the previous winter. He described "safe, reliable, and resilient" as a reflection of the company's obligation to customers, not "magic words." Clark acknowledged that customers may perceive frequent rate increases negatively but explained that some adjustments reflect gas commodity cost fluctuations, which can also result in decreases, while base rate increases are filed when funds are needed for investments.
Clark discussed the company's participation in shaping Senate Bill 291, which includes a gas price risk mitigation plan to smooth customer bills. He said Xcel Energy increased energy assistance programs by $47 million, funded by customers, and contributed $500,000 to Energy Outreach Colorado and about $1.3 million to various nonprofits. Clark stated that the company has a net zero vision to decarbonize electric and gas systems and aims to do so cost-effectively. He expressed a desire to provide outstanding customer service, saying the company must "act like a competitive business and treat our customers as if they are ours to lose."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Rob Clark's recent appearances.
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Transcript (17 segments)
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Marshall0:00
XL Energy is incredibly reliable at wanting to raise your rates. A $64 million gas rate increase was okay 15 months ago. Now, XL wants another $170 million. They say most of it will be spent on safety issues. Thanks to a state law passed last year, in part because of the reporting by our Marshall Ellinger, XL now has to be transparent about its last 10 years worth of rate changes. And here comes Marshall with the receipts.
Hey, hi. And the receipts are gonna seem a little overwhelming, but this is the column that we're gonna focus on: what Excel is asking to increase. It's called the base rate, and from 2014 to 2020 it was eight cents per therm. Just whatever you need to know about that eight cents. Remember that? And since then, in the last four years, it's gone up almost four times as much. And that's where I start my conversation with Excel Colorado President Robert Kinney.
If my Netflix went up four times the amount, I probably would want to ditch Netflix, but I can't ditch Excel. So what justifies an increase of four times the amount and now perhaps even more?
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Robert Kinney1:04
The dollars that we receive from our customers, and you're referring to base rates, particularly with respect to our natural gas system, are going to be primarily used to fund the safety and the reliability of the system. And I think that that's something that we all share in common is a desire for a safe and reliable system.
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Marshall1:24
You say safe, reliable, and resilient often. Are they like magic words that if you say those words, you can justify the expenses and justify the rate increases?
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Robert Kinney1:35
I wouldn't view them as magic words. I would view them as a true reflection of the obligation that we have. In order to maintain the safety of the system, we've got to do preventative maintenance. We have to do inspections. And so I view them as magic words only to the extent that it's a solemn obligation that we have to our customers.
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Marshall1:52
Are you an Excel customer?
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Robert Kinney1:53
I am gas and electric.
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Marshall1:55
Are you happy with your bill?
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Robert Kinney1:58
I am happy with my bill to the extent that I understand probably more than the average customer. I understand what's required to provide the product that we provide and I understand what's required to provide the service. I also know, and I will say this to you Marshall, that I appreciate that there are certain of our customers that do have a harder time paying their gas and electric bill than do I. I'm very fortunate and very blessed. We already have energy assistance programs for both gas and electric, and we worked with the commission to increase that by an additional $47 million.
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Marshall2:33
But is that money paid for by customers?
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Robert Kinney2:36
The additional $47 million is paid by customers. And that's not an uncommon construct throughout the country.
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Marshall2:42
How much is Excel contributing on its own for energy assistance?
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Robert Kinney2:47
Well, we do contribute the $500,000 that we contributed to Energy Outreach Colorado. We also do quite a bit of foundation giving, not just to energy assistance but to a whole host of nonprofits, to the tune of something like $1.3 million that we've contributed to a host of different nonprofits.
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Marshall3:06
As I've mentioned, energy assistance is another column on your bill. If I can get that to circle, it used to be 75 cents a month. It is now 79 cents a month that everybody pays, both on the gas side and another 79 cents on the electric side. Real quickly, one piece of good news for Excel: this column fluctuates up and down. That is the cost of gas, the actual real price. So sometimes your bill does go down when that column changes. I'll tell you, I've done several stories with customers who were overbilled, underbilled, and had problems with their meters. I love showing this. So while I had Excel Colorado's president, I had to ask him this question: what are you doing to better your customer service so I don't have to do it?
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Robert Kinney3:51
I don't want a customer to have to come to you Marshall or go to the news to be able to seek resolution. It is always my desire to provide outstanding and excellent customer service. We have to act like a competitive business and treat our customers as if they are ours to lose.
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Marshall4:09
And just like this meter, I am off the hook. I'm telling you, man, I know it's your job to ask good questions, but those were some phenomenal questions and I thought the answers were so telling. I mean, Excel doesn't have to worry about losing customers, right? Because you can't just go off and build your own nuclear power plant in your backyard. So the question is, what are they doing to preserve people's ability to pay their bills? I thought that was a fascinating conversation. Thank you. I appreciate that. And the whole conversation is online on the Next YouTube channel. About 20 minutes worth of interview with the Excel CEO. Man, they've got us so sick of you. All right, Marshall. Thank you.
