The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has approved a $3.1 million increase in electric rates for Black Hills Energy.
The rate hike will add an average of $2.11, or 2 percent, to the monthly bills of residential customers. Bills for small commercial customers will rise by an average of $7.10 a month, or 1.8 percent.
serves about 94,000 customers in Pueblo, Cañon City and other parts of southern Colorado.
Rapid City, S.D.-based Black Hills originally had sought a rate increase of $7.1 million. The rate was lowered by the PUC after a series of hearings.
In addition to the increase in electric base rates, the PUC approved a new rate rider enabling Black Hills to recover costs from building a natural gas-fired generating unit in Pueblo. That unit replaces a coal-fired plant in Cañon City that was closed as part of Colorado’s Clean Air Clean Jobs Act.
The rate rider is expected to add 40 cents a month to residential bills and $1.89 to small commercial bills.
An article earlier this year by The Washington Post, republished in The Denver Post, .
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948, sraabe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/steveraabedp
