Colorado Springs Utilities face the huge cost of the winter explosion

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – As millions of Texans were without power during last week’s winter explosion, Colorado Springs Utilities reported that all was well along the Front Range. Now, CSU is planning an emergency meeting on Wednesday because the cost of running the generators last week had a huge impact on the annual budget for natural gas.

According to a spokesperson for Colorado Springs Utilities, KRDO told KRDO that CSU has now spent a good chunk of its annual funding on natural gas to power generators.

CSU’s Natalie Eckhart says extreme demand for electricity and natural gas from Feb. 13-16 caused natural gas prices to skyrocket. While CSU had seen market prices of around $ 2.50 / Dekatherm, the price skyrocketed to almost $ 200 / Dekatherm.

At the special finance committee meeting, officials said that in a four-day period when natural gas prices have skyrocketed, they spent around $ 95 million. Typically that would be between $ 7 million and $ 10 million.

But at the end of the day, the money for the increased costs has to come from somewhere. Eckhart said: “We are currently examining alternatives for how we will pass on natural gas prices to our customers.”

CSU leaders discussed three options for how clients will pay for the increase. The former would increase each customer’s natural gas cost by approximately $ 11.45 per month from April 2021 to the end of January 2023. The latter would increase it by $ 18.10 per month through April 2022. The third would increase it by $ 36.43 per month, but only until the end of the year. In total, customers are expected to pay around $ 300 more just for gasoline.

However, it is not only the costs of natural gas that have increased, but also electricity. CSU has also released cost estimates for how much customers will have to pay for the two rate increases. Option number one would add $ 48.47 to residential customer utility bills from April through the end of the year. The second option, which seems the most popular, would add $ 25.03 to each invoice until the end of April 2022. Finally, the third option would add $ 16.21 to each invoice until the end of January 2023. This total s rises to about $ 385.

Colorado Springs City Council will decide on the timeline for March.

The news comes after Governor Jared Polis applauded a Public Services Commission investigation into understanding utility planning. Polis said he believes customers should be given a choice to cut or forgo electricity for a few hours “to avoid hundreds of dollars in additional charges in utility costs.”

It’s a developing story and we’re working on getting more information. Check back for updates.