Do you want the good news first, or the bad?
Let’s start with the bad: Xcel Energy has spent the $5 million set aside for new and used electric vehicle purchase rebates for income-qualified Colorado customers, leaving 100 people with rebate approvals but no checks in the mail.
And Xcel doesn’t plan to ask the Public Utilities Commission for more rebate money, which is funded by the company’s 1.5 million Colorado energy customers under a system that needs PUC approval.
So what’s the good news?
Let’s try: Colorado EV shoppers snapped up 1,176 Xcel rebates for a PUC-approved total of $5 million, many of them in a 2024 sales push by automakers striving to meet customer demand and the mandates of states like Colorado requiring them to stock higher percentages of EVs for sale to help clean the air.
As reported earlier this month, fully electric vehicles made up 22% of Colorado new car registrations in the third quarter of 2024, a big leap from last year.
“I think Xcel running out of money in this program is a good thing,” Colorado Auto Dealers Association CEO Matthew Groves said. “It means they’ve been fulfilling their mission more efficiently than anticipated. No one expected the meteoric rise of EV adoption that we’ve seen in the last 12 months. Xcel has played a huge part in that.”
While Xcel is saying it has no plans to request more EV money from the PUC, the company acknowledged some of the disappointment in a series of emails with communications staff.
“We understand the end of the EV income qualified purchase and lease rebate program may present challenges for some of our customers. To be clear, checks that have been mailed or received at the dealership will still be honored,” Xcel spokesperson Michelle Aguayo wrote.
“We are in the process of analyzing and understanding the full customer impact. In the meantime, we’ve been communicating with those customers who may have requested a rebate, but hadn’t finalized the process of receiving a rebate,” Aguayo said.
Xcel’s entire base of ratepayers in Colorado “fund the rebate programs available through Xcel Energy, and we are keeping affordability in mind as we manage our budgets to the levels approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission,” Aguayo said.
“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this may cause.”
Groves said he has not heard whether Xcel wants to somehow extend the rebate program, but he and his dealers aren’t concerned.
“Do we all wish there was more free money to go around and keep consumer costs low? Of course,” he said. “But the market is moving on us. Anyone that doesn’t try to stay ahead of it could get blindsided. I think we view Xcel’s message here as ‘mission accomplished.’”
Aguayo and Xcel agreed with that assessment.
“The popularity of our rebate programs is a testament to our leadership in providing cost-effective measures that benefit all our customers,” Aguayo said.
Colorado Xcel customers still interested in purchasing a new or used EV may benefit from other rebates focused on helping people afford faster home chargers and any wiring upgrades necessary to install them.
“Most customers are eligible for $500 rebates, customers in disproportionately impacted communities are eligible for $800 rebates and income-qualified customers can receive rebates up to $2,300 to help them save on home wiring upgrades for a Level 2 charger,” Aguayo said. Another Xcel program provides customers with the charger and lets them pay for it with a monthly bill fee.
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