Copyright The Denver Post
Fight back against Xcel’s rate creep Xcel Energy continually requests rate increases, pancaking a request on the natural gas side and then, electric. The rationale always states the impact will be minimal on our monthly bills. Statements such as the increase on the residential side will be $4. Meanwhile, Xcel’s net profits in 2023 were $1.8 billion and in 2024, $1.9 billion. Funny, the billing statement I just received from Xcel, compared to last year’s is up nearly 26%, even though my electric and gas use are down. Four dollars a month? No. This month is up $14.35. I hope the Public Utility Commission takes note when the next rate request comes up. Customers are not at the mercy of Xcel Energy and PUC’s acceptance of rate requests. Anyone can register a complaint at PUC’s website. Those who don’t, I assume, are okay with their rates continually increasing. Mariann Storck, Wheat Ridge Could AI help Denver? Maybe not. Re: “Could city harness AI to renew trust?” Oct. 6 news story Denver Mayor Mike Johnston would like to identify and accelerate the use of Artificial Intelligence to improve trust in government. In the current environment of local budget constraints, combined with the incessant hype of this still speculative technology, it would be strange if its use was not considered. Most of the current success stories focus on AI as an assistant to human staff who need to carefully assess and review its recommendations to manually discard incorrect recommendations, so this is not likely to be a way to compensate for eliminated staff vacancies caused by a budget shortfall. Moreover, if the objective is not just improving the speed of routine transactions but improving trust by addressing transparency, communication, engagement, and accountability, it seems like an unlikely class of solutions. Use of AI in government operations will necessitate accessing and using the personal information of residents. Given an AI industry that would prefer to be an unregulated free market, you would think that we need to make something like the implementation of a Colorado AI Act a foundational precursor to local government use, creating some protections to citizens from leakage, bias, and inappropriate use of personal information. But that seems like a tough row to hoe politically, even in Colorado. David Feineman, Broomfield Keep our libraries a hushed retreat from the world Growing up in Brooklyn (many years ago), it was considered proper etiquette, when in the public library, to speak in a subdued voice if not a whisper. It seems this is no longer the norm as voices are regularly at decibels, which disrupts the ambiance. The library as a “retreat” from the hectic world outside is losing this respected status. How might this observation reflect changes in our culture? Neiel Baronberg, Denver Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more.
