High Utility Bills in Colorado

Unfortunately, too many utilities are continuing to stick with gas. And we are forced to pay for it.

There are two primary parts of your utility bill:

• Supply – the cost of the energy itself, in this case methane gas
• Delivery – the cost to build and safely maintain the transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to deliver energy or gas to your home.

When it comes to supply, most utilities pass along the energy at cost. This means they often lack incentives to reduce reliance on gas price spikes.

When it comes to delivery, utilities that make money do so on the delivery side of your bill. The more money they spend building stuff, the higher our rates to pay for that infrastructure and the greater their opportunity to profit.

Many gas investments take decades to pay off – sometimes as long as 50 years.

But our state has a goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2050. So ratepayers will pay for some gas investments we make right now, well past 2050 – beyond the point most of this infrastructure should not even be operating.

So gas investments now make even less sense from a cost perspective.

We need to reduce our reliance on gas.

• End ratepayer subsidies that support gas infrastructure whether it’s pipelines or appliances – we should not be encouraging greater dependence on fossil fuels
• Maximize energy efficiency programs – the cheapest and cleanest kilowatt is the one we don’t use
• New infrastructure should focus on renewables and storage – investing in gas power plants or gas pipelines deepens our dependence and increases costs. Clean energy is cost competitive and is just as reliable
• Create incentives for utilities to reduce gas price spikes instead of just passing those spikes on to consumers
• For investor-owned utilities, legal costs, trade association fees and lobbying expenses should not come from ratepayers
• Ensure utilities, not ratepayers, are on the hook for gas expenses beyond 2050 – ratepayers should not support new gas investments that last beyond the date by which we need to meet our greenhouse gas emissions goals
• Maximize the impact of federal incentives to go electric by coupling them with utility rebates and state support – it’s easier than ever for individual homeowners to go electric
• Reduce peak demand and invest in demand response programs – spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build new power plants just to be used a few days a year to meet large “peak” demand when rates are highest is particularly costly for consumers. Reducing peak demand helps minimize the need for new generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure; can improve reliability and resilience; and can bring monetary benefits to ratepayers if compensated demand response programs are used.
  • Examples include incentives for smart appliances or programs that allow the utility to automatically cycle your non-essential appliances at times of peak demand.

To avoid the costs of gas in the future, we need to shift to a system that has lower costs for us as consumers and big benefits for us as a community.

This winter many Coloradans’ utility bills skyrocketed — some doubled. In recent testimony, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) attributed the cost of gas as a leading factor.

As the regulator for investor-owned utilities, tell the PUC to stand up for consumers and make sure utilities are doing more to tackle waste and reduce our reliance on expensive gas to heat and power our homes.

Sign our petition here.

At a press conference in February, Governor Polis said it best — to reduce rising utility bills we need to cut our reliance on volatile gas.

Tell him you agree. Add your name to our message here.

Utility bills across Colorado skyrocketed this winter. State legislators, the governor and regulators are all looking into why and how to stop these spikes in the future.

What happened to your utility bill? How did it impact you?

Share your story HERE so we can ensure decision-makers follow through and identify ways to stop these utility bill hikes from happening in the future.