COLORADO SPRINGS — It seems like the cost of everything just keeps going up, and in Colorado Springs the cost of your utility bills will likely be added to the list.
Colorado Springs Utilities announced this summer it is seeking to raise base rates on all its utilities for the next five years. Utilities said the rate increases are needed to keep up with the reliability and infrastructure as the city grows, and to meet state regulations by 2030.
News5Investigates requested emails between Colorado Springs Utilities employees about the rate increase and its plan to share it with the public.
Springs Utilities maintains it has been transparent throughout the whole process.
“I'm probably too transparent in a lot of ways. I'm about as open book as you're ever going to find on this,” Chief Executive Officer of Colorado Springs Utilities Travas Deal said in an interview with News5.
Records show the initial idea for a 5 year rate increase was discussed with the Utilities Board, which is also Colorado Springs City Council during a meeting with the CEO in February.
In May, the Public Affairs department reached out to the Rates Manager at Springs Utilities to get an idea on what to share with the public during a “State of the Utility” event in early June.
In that email from Danielle Nieves, a Public Affairs specialist to Scott Shirola, the Rates Manager it said “We want to allude to the changes, without giving specific amounts but potentially % increases and a
heads up on what’s coming long term (especially for the VIPs there in business community).”
“So the question is, so if somebody asks you says rates going up, how much you know. And so I don't know. So we have been saying that through pretty much every venue I've been in. Then, hey, you know, we do anticipate rate increases. Thing is, we don't approve the rate increases,” Deal said.
The decision on rates is ultimately up to City Council, which is also the Utilities Board.
On stage at the State of the Utility event, Deal said “we’re going to have to invest, well our investment has to come from our rates”. He later told reporters rate increases were expected over the next 5 years.
Weeks after the State of the Utility event, Deal received an email from the Brand Manager at Colorado Springs Utilities, David Reeve. Reeve is a former KOAA employee.
The email referenced a video Deal was in about infrastructure, Reeve asked if Deal wanted to mention anything about the rates in the video. In a response to Reeve, Deal said “I think we hold off on the rates for now until we get rather along in the process. I think we can always do something later on it, but we are a ways from approval on rates. I think we send this out now. Thoughts?”
Two weeks after that email, the Rates Manager Scott Shirola wrote in an email the rate increases appeared to be a done deal “I hear there is zero risk of not having 5 year rate increases approved. 100% guaranteed 9-0vote! Can't beat that.”
“We do a lot to educate our city council on this. So then being on the utility board side, they're part of the decisions on the projects. They're part of the decision on the electric integrated resource plan, the gas and the water. So they're very much plugged in to everything that we're doing when it gets into the projects. So the way rate increases work, you have revenue coming in and you have, you know, capital going out. So if you start taking a look at that is we have to make up that difference,” Deal said in response to whether that was his understanding of how council plans to vote.
Deal reiterated council is the ultimate decision maker on the rate increases. If it were up to Deal he said the rate increases would not be happening, as he does not agree with some of the projects needed.
“So I think there's a lot of people out there that aren't really looking at that and where these things are absolutely coming from. These are not my choice. You know, if it was just my choice utilities, we'd be taking a different direction. We don't have that choice. So that drives, drives a lot of this.”
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