A bill allowing small-town power providers across Colorado to charge higher or lower electricity rates depending on how much juice consumers use won approval in a state House committee Tuesday, putting it just two steps shy of the governor’s desk.
The House Transportation and Energy Committee gave unanimous support to Senate Bill 39, which is backed by both environmental advocates and the association representing all but one of the state’s rural electric co-operatives.
Supporters of the bill say tiered power rates will encourage individual consumers to conserve energy, providing a benefit to all.
Opponents — including Intermountain Rural Electric Association, the state’s largest co-op, with territory stretching from Conifer to Castle Rock to Byers — say if customers conserve too much energy, co-ops would have to raise rates on everybody to cover the fixed costs of maintaining power lines and other infrastructure.
John Ingold, The Denver Post
