Colorado's Electric and Gas Rate Cases: What's at Stake and How to Participate
Colorado's largest energy utility has asked state regulators to approve two separate rate increases totaling more than half a billion dollars annually. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is considering both proposals. Public comment hearings are open now.
At a glance
The utility is requesting a $356 million annual electric rate increase and a $190 million gas increase, more than $546 million combined.
If both are approved, the average small business with electric and gas service would pay about $50.69 more per month.
Electric rate case hearing: June 16 | Gas rate case hearing: July 28
Written comments are open now and can be submitted online, by email, or by phone.
What is the PUC?
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission oversees utility companies that provide electricity and natural gas to Colorado homes and businesses. Because utilities like Colorado's largest energy provider operate as government-sanctioned monopolies with no competitive market to regulate pricing, the PUC reviews and approves any proposed rate change through a formal public process.
That process includes hearings where residents and business owners can testify on the record, as well as written and verbal comment periods open to anyone. The Commission is required to weigh affordability, service reliability, and Colorado's statutory clean energy goals. Public comments become part of the official proceeding record.
What's being proposed
Electric: In November 2025, the utility filed an application to increase electric rates by $356 million per year. If approved as filed, the average small business customer would pay about $14.22 more per month.
Natural gas: In December 2025, the utility filed a separate application to raise natural gas rates by $190 million annually. The average small business gas customer would pay about $36.47 more per month (13% increase).
Combined impact: The total monthly increase for small businesses that receive both electric and gas service if both proposals are approved as filed would be approximately $50.69.
The case against the increases
Consumer advocates and watchdog organizations have questioned both the timing and the basis of the requests.
Affordability: The utility reported $2.24 billion in profit in 2025, while its CEO's compensation rose 24% to $16 million. During the same period, more than 27,000 Colorado households were behind on their utility bills, owing an average of $626.
Reliability and infrastructure: Critics note that outage duration has increased 72% since 2016 and question whether more funding, structured the same way, produces different results. The Commission also opened a special investigation in recent years into complaints about billing errors, slow response times, and improper service cutoffs.
Clean energy and coal: The utility had previously committed to retiring its Comanche coal plant units early as part of Colorado's clean energy transition. Consumer advocates argue it is now seeking to extend those operations and recover the costs through a mechanism designed for the opposite purpose: accelerating coal retirements. Colorado is already 87.5% toward its 2030 climate goal making the rationale for prolonging coal harder to justify, critics say.
Natural gas: Colorado law requires a transition away from methane gas for home heating, and the PUC has directed the utility to move away from "business as usual" gas system planning. Critics argue the company over-invests in pipeline infrastructure in part because its profit structure rewards capital spending on pipelines, leaving customers paying off those assets for decades as the state moves toward electrification.
The case for the increases
Affordability: The company notes that Colorado customers' electric bills currently sit 37% below the national average. Natural gas bills have averaged 18% below the national average over the past decade. The company is also proposing a $10 million shareholder-funded contribution to expand energy assistance programs, along with new protections against disconnection for customers who cannot pay.
Reliability and infrastructure: The utility cites three years of electric infrastructure investments: replacing aging equipment, building new transmission lines to carry wind and solar power, reducing wildfire risk, and expanding grid capacity. On natural gas, investments include replacing aging pipelines, improving leak detection technology, and overhauling regulator stations to maintain reliable delivery during peak winter demand.
Clean energy and coal: Since 2005, the utility says it has reduced carbon emissions by 57%, and its wind farms have saved Colorado customers more than $1 billion in avoided fuel costs since 2017. The company projects that by 2030, 88% of the electricity it generates in Colorado will come from carbon-free sources, up from 45% today.
Natural gas: The utility argues its gas infrastructure supports, rather than conflicts with, Colorado's clean energy goals, noting that the system accommodates customer choice between gas and electrification, and that faster methane leak detection reduces emissions.
Grid capacity: The company argues that Colorado's rapidly growing energy demand requires expanded generation and distribution capacity, and that the rate increases fund the infrastructure needed to meet that demand reliably.
How to participate
The PUC accepts public comments through several channels and gives them equal weight regardless of format.
Electric rate case: Tuesday, June 16, 4:30–6:30 p.m. (virtual) — Register here
Gas rate case: Tuesday, July 28, 4:00–6:00 p.m. (virtual) — Register here
Submit written comments anytime:
Online via the PUC website — reference Proceeding No. 25AL-0494E (electric) or 25AL-0538G (gas)
By email to dora_puc_website@state.co.us — include the proceeding number in the subject line
By phone at (303) 869-3490 — leave a voicemail referencing the proceeding name or number
By mail to: Colorado Public Utilities Commission, 1560 Broadway, Suite 250, Denver, CO 80202
Spanish and ASL interpretation are available for both hearings. Contact Megan.Castle@state.co.us to request.
Where Good Business Colorado stands
Good Business Colorado supports decisions that take a long view of economic health, environmental accountability, and the relationship between the two.
A regulated monopoly carries obligations in return for operating without competition: reliable service, transparent accounting, and follow-through on its commitments to regulators and the public. That includes the clean energy commitments already made to Colorado, rather than revising them when the transition becomes costly or difficult. It also means gas infrastructure spending should be aligned with where the state is going, not where it has been.
We also recognize that grid reliability is a legitimate concern, and that transitioning a statewide energy system takes time and real investment. The question we think the PUC should press is not whether to invest, but whether the investments proposed and the costs being passed to customers are consistent with Colorado's long-term energy goals. The long-term costs of remaining on fossil fuel infrastructure, financial and environmental, deserve the same scrutiny as the short-term costs of transitioning away from it.
For small businesses in particular, these increases don't arrive in isolation. Many Colorado business owners are still absorbing the cumulative costs of recent years (pandemic recovery, supply chain disruptions, tariff increases) and rate hikes compound that pressure directly, either cutting into margins or getting passed on to customers who are already stretched.
Colorado small businesses and residents should not be the first to absorb a utility company's financial pressures, nor the last to benefit from its gains. The PUC process is the formal mechanism for raising those questions. Both comment periods are open now.
We encourage members to attend and comment. Utility rate cases are decided largely by who shows up, and small business owners should have a direct stake in the outcome.