Senate acts to protect consumers, tackle high utility bills

DENVER – The Colorado State Senate approved a measure that will add new consumer protections aimed at the main causes of the volatile, high utility bills Coloradans faced this winter. SB23-291, sponsored by Senate President Steve Fenberg and Senator Lisa Cutter, was introduced after weeks of expert testimony before the Colorado Joint Select Committee on Rising Utility Rates.

After gas prices spiked 40% this winter, driving the surge in Coloradans’ utility bills, the policy focuses on protecting consumers of investor-owned utilities in the following ways:

• Reducing the number of unnecessary types of expenses ratepayers can be billed for including utility lobbying, brand advertising and tax penalties
• Increasing transparency around proposed gas rates
• Eliminating wasteful ratepayer subsidies that extend gas reliance to new buildings. In testimony, the Utility Consumer Advocate estimated the subsidies cost $1,000 per home.
• Requiring a set of new rulemakings at the Public Utilities Commission to ensure:
  Consumers will not be on the hook for new gas expenses that become underutilized or stranded; utility incentives are better aligned to reward reducing exposure to volatile gas; utilities are better incentivized to reduce waste and find efficiencies that save consumers money.

The bill heads to the House where Speaker Pro Tempore Chris deGruy Kennedy and Representative Matthew Martinez will have less than two weeks to get it through before the session ends.

In response, CoPIRG executive director Danny Katz released the following statement:

“To protect consumers from high utility bills and reduce our exposure to volatile gas, we need to cut waste, increase efficiencies and reduce our reliance on gas. This bill will align utility incentives to better look out for consumers, rewarding actions that eliminate waste and save people money. It also reverses backwards subsidies that deepen our dependence on a volatile fuel that spiked 40% this winter. We have the technology to save people money by increasing efficiencies in the grid, eliminating waste and switching to safer, renewable fuels instead of riskier, volatile gas.”