$100 million would buy a lot of new windows, high efficiency furnaces, insulate walls and seal leaks in housing stock that is
a) largely built before 1970 and leaks like a sieve
b) a big chunk of city real estate is rental properties
and
c) people may highly leveraged to afford a house in Boulder, currently struggling financially with the recession, or retired and on a fixed income.

Landlords will not upgrade the 1000′s of crappy houses in town since renters pay utilities and there is no financial incentive for them to spend the money, these would all be considered improvements not repairs and would not be fully deductible. Rent could not increase enough to cover the upgrades.

Renters will do what they can to reduce their phantom load and turn the thermostat down, but as I can personally attest, unplugging everything in my house made depressingly little dent in my daytime phantom load. When the ClimateSmart guy came to the house he could offer no quick easy wins, (I’d already done all the ones on his list) just the more expensive improvements to a 60 year old house that are out of reach at the moment.

Lots of homeowners aren’t in a financial position to afford new appliances, new windows, etc. and

If usage drops a lot Xcel will apply for a rate increase. The wealthy have gone solar or can pay it regardless. The middle class and poor will be squeezed even more and have little ability to affect it.

I’m all for reducing energy usage – I just think SmartGrid will end up costing those that can afford it it least the most money and they will never be able to catch up (utilities get more expensive, takes a greater % of pay, less pay for improvements, rates go up …. continue vicious cycle).

Since I’m self employed and work from home – it’s a cold day in hell they get control to turn off my appliances. I’ve unplugged everything I can, the programmable thermostat to 63 in winter, 80 in summer, hang out the laundry and don’t turn on lights during the day.

I still think SmartGrid is putting the cart before the horse.