City of Pueblo asking citizens to file complaints against Black Hill Energy proposed rate increase

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - On Monday, July 22, the Pueblo City Council unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC’s request before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to raise electrical rates within the City of Pueblo.

The proposed increase would tag on an average of $20 dollars to residential bills, and about $25 dollars to commercial bills.

On Thursday, while hearing a presentation by Black Hills Energy, Pueblo County Commissioners echoed the frustrations of their city counterparts over the proposal, by calling out leadership of the company.

"These comments are directed at Linn Evans, President of Black Hills Energy. He should be in this room today. He is a coward. He doesn't know Pueblo and he doesn't care about Pueblo." said Commissioner Epimenio Griego. "I hope you are listening, Mr. Evans, but you are probably on the golf course." he added.

Vice President of Black Hills, Campbell Hawkins, as well as other executive members of the company gave a detailed presentation breaking down the broader finances and the state of energy business in the country, while also diving into the specifics on the proposed rate increase. They fielded questions afterwards from the County Commissioners.

That same morning, the City of Pueblo took to Faceboo k in a post, asking residents to submit a comment "in protest" of the proposal to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), a three-person committee who will ultimately decide the fate of the proposal, over the course of several months and multiple hearings.

Pueblo, enough is enough. We are asking all residents to submit a comment in protest of Black Hills Energy's request to increase its base electric rates. If approved this would result in an average monthly bill increase for residential customers of about $20.23 from $109.67 to $129.90 per month for 600 kWh. This would have compounding effects should your usage exceeding 600 kWhs.

City of Pueblo Facebook Post

The City Council tells KRDO13 that it's the only way to have an impact on the decision to deny the rate increase.

"We have no choice but to pay Black Hills. We cannot buy our energy anywhere else. It's not legal. It cannot happen at this point. This is our way to fight back." explained President of City Council, Mark Aliff.

If you would like to submit a comment to the PUC, the city provided the following instructions.

• Once you click the link, https://bit.ly/3WFPDFm , you will be taken to the PUC form.
• Click on File a Comment in a Proceeding, then click Next.
• The following window will ask you to choose an industry. Click Electric, then click Next.
• Click on the link supplied in this window.
• Another window will open. Click on Black Hills Colorado Electric LLC, then click Next.
• Another window will open. Click on case 24AL-0275 - Filing to increase electric base rates for residential and small commercial customer classes, then click Next.
• The following window will ask for name, business, address, city, state, email, and comment. Please write your comments or paste the following remarks. Below the comments page is a Choose File link if you want to add an attachment to your comments.
• Then click Submit.
• Another window will open with your confirmation. You can print it if you like.

In response to the move by Pueblo City Council to pass the resolution, and continue to fight against the rate increase, Black Hills issued this statement to KRDO13 on Thursday:

" We recognize that right now, many families in Pueblo and across Southern Colorado are experiencing challenging times, and nobody wants to see electric bills increase. We know our customers count on us every day for the energy they need, and we have a responsibility to serve those customers safe and reliable energy around the clock.

While we are disappointed with the resolution passed by the city - we understand that it demonstrates their commitment to representing their constituents. We remain open to dialogue with all our stakeholders regarding this transparent and highly regulated rate review process.

We’ve been managing costs tightly to minimize and postpone rate increases, which is a principal reason why we were able to stay out of a rate review for the past eight years. But the cost to provide service has escalated dramatically since 2016 for goods and services across several industries, including ours.

We’ve experienced inflationary and supply chain cost increases and have made critical infrastructure improvements in the electric system locally. This is driving our proposed increase of $20 per month on average for residential customers - which equates to a 2.25% increase annually over the 8 years since we last filed.

We are committed to Pueblo and will continue to listen and support our city and county leaders, community partners and our customers as we proceed through this rate review process.”

- Campbell Hawkins, Black Hills Energy Vice President of Colorado Utilities

The post City of Pueblo asking citizens to file complaints against Black Hill Energy proposed rate increase appeared first on KRDO .