HB 26-1246: Protecting Coloradans from rising power costs and a broken system
Colorado State Representative DeGraaf has introduced a “Consumer Regulated Electricity” (CRE) bill. He brilliantly lays out the many reasons in this new op-ed, most of which are common to all states.
“Colorado is facing a turning point in energy policy. For years, families and businesses across our state have watched their electricity bills rise while our landscapes are increasingly carved up by massive transmission projects stretching from horizon to horizon.
…Meanwhile, the people paying the price are the very citizens the system is supposed to protect.
House Bill 26-1246 is about restoring balance and protecting Coloradans from the unintended consequences of a system that has drifted far from its original purpose.
…Under the banner of aggressive electrification policies and ESG-driven mandates, the PUC has increasingly approved massive infrastructure expansions that utilities are eager to build. These projects include long-distance high-voltage transmission lines that stretch across rural Colorado.
The reason utilities like these projects is simple: they are guaranteed investments.
When a utility builds a new transmission line or power plant, regulators allow it to earn a regulated rate of return—often around 9–10 percent—on the capital it spends. The more infrastructure that gets built, the larger the guaranteed return to investors.
Those costs, of course, are passed directly to ratepayers.
In other words, citizens pay higher electricity bills so utilities can earn guaranteed profits on ever-larger infrastructure projects.
…Meanwhile, a new challenge is emerging that exposes just how fragile this model has become.
Large industrial facilities—particularly data centers supporting artificial intelligence and advanced computing—require enormous amounts of electricity. These facilities often demand hundreds of megawatts of power and need that power immediately.
But our current system is not designed to respond quickly.
Transmission lines can take ten years or more to plan, permit, litigate, and construct. Power plants often take years to approve and build. Companies making billion-dollar investment decisions cannot wait that long.”
