Utilities asks city for rate increase

The typical electric bill for residential customers in Colorado Springs would go up $1.32 per month, while businesses' would see a slight dip under a proposal the City Council heard Tuesday.

Colorado Springs Utilities, which is owned by the city, said the proposed change in rates wouldn't increase its revenues. Instead, Utilities officials argued for raising residential rates because of a shift in energy usage.

Electric rates are calculated to ensure residential and commercial customers each pay enough to cover the cost of producing the power they use.

City activist Al Brody blasted the idea of shifting more of the cost to residential customers because their energy use has risen.

"Once again, we're attacking the smallest users in our community," he told the council. "Basically, we're taking money from the poor and giving it to the biggest users in our community."

The largest commercial customers would save an average of $370 a month on electricity costs if the plan is approved. Among the city's biggest users is Atmel Corp., a maker of computer circuits with about 1,900 local employees. Managing Director and Site Manager Dan Malinaric asked the council to approve a decrease in electric rates for businesses.

"Electricity is our largest single line item for cost," he said. "We cannot afford to continue to subsidize any portion of the residential consumer bill."

Tuesday's public hearing was the final step before the City Council votes May 27. If approved, the increase would take effect June 1.

The City Council will also consider on May 27 a rebate to utility customers to account for lower-thanexpected costs of producing electricity. The "electric cost adjustment" would be $1.98 a month for about two years for a typical residential bill. If both measures pass, the result would be a 66-cent decline for a typical electric customer.

Also Tuesday, the Council unanimously approved an ordinance that expands the types of weapons private security guards can carry. City law had limited private guards to revolvers, but the new ordinance adds semiautomatics with two additional ammunition clips, and "conductive energy devices" such as a Taser. The ordinance says guards who carry the weapons have to be trained how to use them.

The change had been in the works since the fall, but interest grew after a New Life Church guard on Dec. 9 shot a gunman who had killed two people.

______

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0187 or perry.swanson@gazette.com