Colorado energy providers are competing for many of the same resources as we strive to meet state air quality regulations. This includes the pursuit of clean energy sources and limited transmission line capacity.
Considering these challenges, we are seeking ways to manage your costs and maintain reliability, while also bringing you cleaner energy. Innovative solutions such as joining the Southwest Power Pool offer promise for helping us achieve these goals.
The Southwest Power Pool is a regional transmission organization that manages how utility providers and generators reliably and affordably deliver power to their customers.
Our future membership will allow us to access a diverse energy resources located across 14 states. As part of membership and market participation, we can purchase the lowest cost available resource, whether it be wind, solar, natural gas or nuclear power, and deliver it to Colorado Springs using transmission lines.
In April 2026, we will join the Southwest Power Pool's expanded Regional Transmission Organization. It will allow us to:
No. We maintain local ownership and control of the electric grid and the power generation sources within our service territory.
No. Membership in regional transmission organizations is common among other utilities in the United States. They're a proven resource to help control costs, enhance reliability and improve system efficiency.
No. Even when all local coal-fired power plants were operating, we still used energy markets.
The regional transmission organization will enable us to manage these markets more efficiently and at a low cost.
The SPP-Western Energy Imbalance Service market is a real-time energy market in the western United States that balances electric generation and demand regionally.
Since we joined in August 2022, we’ve been able to better manage short-term shifts in regional energy supply and demand through real-time access to market intelligence and resources across state lines.
After three years of membership in this market, we have saved customers millions of dollars in energy costs. How? We purchased energy at a lower cost than generating it ourselves, and we sold excess power generation to neighboring utilities.
The Western Energy Imbalance Service market will be phased out once the Southwest Power Pool formally launches its regional transmission organization in April 2026.
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