PUEBLO — At Monday's work session, the City of Pueblo made public its feasibility study on the hypothetical of moving from Black Hills Energy to a municipal service as its utility provider. According to the results, such a transition would not be economically feasible.
The independent study cited economic reasons as the main problem with moving to a municipal service, saying rising energy costs would make a potential transition harder.
WATCH: New study finds it is not feasible for Pueblo to create its own city run utility
“Power costs are more than two times higher than what they were in 2019," said Pueblo Public Works Director Andrew Hayes.
The findings were consistent with arguments from Black Hills Energy, which stated that such a change would be too costly.
As for next steps: a “yes” vote in May’s election means the city will look into other options. According to Hayes, some of those include a wider coverage space for a new utility service and working with neighboring communities. A “no” vote simply denotes that Pueblo voters are satisfied with Black Hills.
Either decision on May 6 does not turn the lights off. Black Hills will continue to run city utilities until an alternative is reached.
___
A family in Colorado City says illegal dumping near their home is becoming a safety issue
One official told News5 the trash piles could be infested with rats or other dangerous factors, so they are waiting to work with the health department to remove trash from the area.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
