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.
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