PUEBLO, Colo. (KOAA) — Those who watch TV may have seen the ads a number of times and maybe even received mailers or a door knock from someone canvassing to talk about voting 'No on 2A.'
It's the tagline for the campaign that wants to see Black Hills Energy remain the electric utility provider for Pueblo.
We wanted to know how much they spent on the campaign.
Doing business as Black Hills Energy, Colorado Electric LLC invested $1.5 million on its campaign to get voters to reject Proposition 2A. A 'no' vote would keep the city's contract with the utility past its current contract which runs through 2030.
The effort to reconsider Black Hills Energy as the energy provide began after it announced plans last year to raise rates by 18% over the next eight years.
This is how the utility's spending breaks down: It spent the most on TV advertisements - $1,192,659, according to campaign finance filings with the City of Pueblo. Those funds were paid to Nuckles Media Services company out of Washington, DC.
It spent $13,500 on its website and social media and $119,832 on mailers and postage. It's second largest expense was $166,000 invested into voter outreach, paid to Rocky Mountain Voter Outreach LLC out of Lakewood, Colorado.
I reached out to the campaign to ask why it decided to spend that heavily for in-person canvassing.
"While TV, digital, mail and social communications are vital, we didn't want to overlook a meaningful personal connection. Since early April, we've had folks going door-to-door talking to voters and surveying their views," campaign spokesman Steve Welchert said in part in an email to News5.
As far as contributions, campaign finance data from the city show Black Hills Colorado Electric contributed $1.5 million to its campaign and then received $30,000 from the Edison Electric Institute, an association that lobbies on behalf of all US investor-owned electric companies.
There were no campaign finance documents to show any investment in an effort to influence voters to approve Proposition 2A. The date to report all expenditures and contributions is on Election Day, which is May 6. The data in this story is updated as of May 5, 2025.
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