By CEN Staff

DENVER - Seeking to up the ante when it comes to Coloradoans’ support of renewable energy, Xcel has asked state regulators to raise the amount of money it collects from customers to pay for solar and wind power to the full 2 percent of the monthly bill allowed by sate law.

Xcel Energy had been charging customers 1.46 percent of their mnthly bill. If approved, the raise would tack on 33 cents per month to the typical residential bill, for a total of $1.21 per month. The bills of small businesses would rise 52 cents per month, to $1.93 per month.

Company spokesman Mark Stutz said that increasing the percentage would raise an extra $13.2 million a year, resulting in a total of about $50 million a year.

The state’s largest utility said more money is needed to pay for solar and wind projects that will help the utility meet both state-mandated and voter-approved goals for using renewable energy resources to generate power. If the request is approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, the higher payment would take effect Jan. 1.

“As we move toward meeting the state mandates for renewable energy in 2009 and beyond, we will need to bring full funding to those efforts, particularly for the solar component that Colorado voters have approved,” Roy Palmer, Xcel’s managing director for government and regulatory affairs, said in a statement.

State law requires that Xcel get 20 percent of the power it sells a year from renewable resources by 2020. The company has indicated that it intends to meet the directive several years early.