Fort Morgan council unanimously approves electric-rate increase after public hearing
The council approved Ordinance 1338 on Sept. 1, with the changes applying to bills issued after Oct. 1, 2026. The reviewed records do not include customer-class rate details.
The Fort Morgan City Council unanimously approved Ordinance 1338 on Sept. 1 after a public hearing, adopting electric-rate changes that apply to bills issued after Oct. 1, 2026.
The council, acting as the board of the city’s Electricity Distribution Enterprise, approved the ordinance on second reading and authorized publication by title only. The meeting video records the motion as carrying unanimously.
The decision follows the council’s earlier advancement of a proposed 9.5% increase, which was based on a May rate study. The proposal drew opposition from a resident who cited financial hardship and said even an additional $10 would be difficult for some residents. The resident also asked whether the increase was connected to Cargill’s work stoppage.
City Manager Brent Nation said the rate discussion predated Cargill’s problems and “has nothing to do with what happened at Cargill.” The mayor said the city buys electricity from outside suppliers and was passing higher supply costs on to customers.
The city’s Light and Power department says Fort Morgan’s primary electric suppliers include the Western Area Power Administration and the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska. The department also says a Colorado Association of Municipal Utilities survey ranked Fort Morgan among the lowest-rate utilities in Colorado among 57 surveyed utilities. During the hearing, officials similarly said residential rates would remain among the state’s lowest, although the automated transcript varies between “second lowest” and “lowest.”
The reviewed records do not include the exact average residential bill increase or the enacted commercial and industrial rate changes. Officials discussed $105 as an average monthly electric rate, but the record does not establish whether that figure was before or after the increase.
Because the ordinance was authorized for publication by title only, the reviewed agenda and video do not provide a detailed customer-class rate schedule.