ASPEN, Colo.—Rural electric cooperative Holy Cross Energy plans to overhaul its pricing system to reward conservation and penalize high consumption among residential customers.
Holy Cross serves 43,000 customers in the Roaring Fork, Eagle and lower Colorado River valleys. Its service area includes parts of Aspen and Vail.
The co-op said details of the tiered pricing system still need to be worked out, but the goal is to tweak pricing enough to entice people to conserve energy and increase efficiency.
“Our intent is to promote it not as punitive but as an opportunity,” Holy Cross CEO Del Worley said.
Worley said the average customer won’t pay a higher bill but will have the opportunity to pay less through conservation and energy efficiency. The company will work with customers on conservation measures aimed at reducing their electricity use, he said.
The new system likely will take effect next spring.
The Colorado Legislature cleared the way for the new pricing with a bill passed in the session that ended this month. The bill—sponsored by Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, and Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison—passed both houses with ease and was signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter.
It requires that the new pricing be “revenue neutral,” meaning utility companies can’t use it to jack up their revenues.
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Information from: The Aspen Times,
