John Hinderaker at Powerline concludes…
This is what the environmentalists have in mind for us, too. The ostensible purpose of these schemes to soak the public is the need to reduce carbon emissions, an essentially bogus claim. What is really going on is that enormous amounts of money are being made by companies who find it easier to lobby the government than to compete on price. Consumers, as usual, are being stuck with the tab.
The only difference is in Boulder the consumers are enthusiastically lobbying for the increased tab.