Aug 30 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Chuck Plunkett The Denver Post

A Denver-based consumer advocacy group launched a petition drive Tuesday that calls for Gregory Sopkin to resign as chairman of the state's Public Utilities Commission.

ProgressNowAction faults the former Xcel Energy attorney for taking nearly 30 trips during his 3K years as chairman that were hosted by the types of industries he regulates.

"Sopkin worked for, was handpicked by and then was wined and dined by the companies he's now supposed to regulate," the group's executive director, Michael Huttner, said in an interview.

ProgressNowAction has no legal standing to remove Sopkin but said it hopes to put pressure on him to resign through the petition drive.

The group referenced a July article by The Denver Post that reviewed Sopkin's travel. The Post found that Sopkin has been a frequent guest of conferences sponsored by industry groups.

The groups paid for his travel and hotel stays at the conferences, which often were held at resort hotels, some of which typically charge $500 a night.

PUC spokesman Terry Bote stressed Tuesday that none of those trips was paid for specifically by Colorado companies.

"The allegations are completely groundless and amount to nothing more than a cheap smear tactic," Bote said in a prepared statement. "Despite what ProgressNowAction thinks, chairman Sopkin has never taken a trip or attended a conference paid for by any Colorado regulated utility." Some of the industry-sponsored conferences detailed in The Post report were held with the goal of helping executives and attorneys learn how to win increases in the rates they charge their customers.

The title of one in Miami, for example: "Rate Case 101: How to Produce a Successful Rate Case." Sopkin said he didn't discuss how to win a rate case as part of his presentation at that conference.

ProgressNowAction's petition drive points out that the PUC currently is considering a rate-increase request by Xcel that would raise average home bills for most Coloradans by 11.6 percent.

Huttner said the group almost immediately collected 250 signatures after announcing the petition drive to its 4,100 subscribers.

"It may be the most we've received in a little over an hour," he said. "This single issue about consumers and their bills resonates more with our members than anything."