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We develop our annual budget to meet system needs, provide value to our customers’ lives and support economic growth. As a community-owned utility, we are a nonprofit and do not make money on the rates we charge.
Base rates support the annual budget and are designed to cover the cost to provide services. Base rates fund major projects, system improvements and maintenance to meet regulations, support customer needs and maintain service reliability.
Important dates:
• Aug. 21, 2024: Proposed Budget and Rate Case Presentation - Utilities Board
• Oct. 22, 2024: City Council Budget First Reading & Rate Case Hearing
• Nov. 12, 2024: City Council Budget Second Reading and Rate Case Decision
• Jan. 1, 2025: New base rates (2025-2029) and 2025 budget effective.
Budget drivers
The drivers of the budget fall into these primary categories:
- Reliability. System improvements or equipment required to operate the existing system reliably and resiliently.
- Regulatory. Required by local, state or federal law.
- Growth/capacity. Projects that increase capacity for population or system growth.
Our commitment to customers
These projects help us to maintain the reliability our customers have come to expect, while allowing us to support the city’s growth and meet regulations.
Five-year rate case
We are facing a period of historic demands and industry change. We currently have about $4.6 billion of infrastructure in our system that has been built and maintained over our 100-year history. We expect to add another $3.9 billion in assets in just 5 years.
As a result, we must increase our budget to pay for these necessary projects. The 2025 proposed budget is currently estimated at $1.8 billion – a 21% increase over the 2024 approved budget. Despite these challenges, we believe this plan will keep rates competitive compared to other Front Range utilities.
- Increasing our budget to pay for these future projects will result in proposed rate increases across all four services for the next five years.
- We understand increases have a financial impact on our customers and are committed to providing payment assistance programs, rebates, efficiency information and rate options to support you.
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