Colorado regulators approve Durango Mountain Utilities gas-cost adjustment
Staff estimated the adjustment would raise the average customer-equivalent bill by $572; the utility proposed a Nov. 1 start date.
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The Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved Durango Mountain Utilities’ gas-cost adjustment Oct. 28, a change staff estimated would raise the average customer-equivalent bill from $2,179 to $2,751. The commission granted the application on less than statutory notice. The utility proposed a Nov. 1 start date and filed compliance materials and revised tariff sheets that afternoon.
At the meeting, staff said the proposal would raise the commodity charge from $1.21 to $1.63 per gallon, about 35%, while leaving the utility’s $1.39-per-gallon base rate unchanged. Staff estimated the average bill would increase about 26%. The utility serves 361 customer equivalents near the Purgatory Mountain community, staff told the commission.
Staff attributed roughly two-thirds of the projected increase to higher forecast gas costs, mainly a 70% rise in gas-storage costs. The rest would come from the expiration of a 15-cent-per-gallon credit from the previous year. Staff described the adjustment as a pass-through of gas costs, not an increase in the utility’s base-rate margin.