Preparing for likely drought
Bracing for what could be a dry season, the Colorado Springs Utilities Board resolved on Wednesday to enter “water shortage preparation,” a move that staff said would provide more operational tools to survive drought conditions this year.
The board also called for higher awareness and more education for Utilities customers to encourage additional voluntary water conservation.
Utilities has roughly three years worth of water in its network of 25 reservoirs, which are currently at 77% of capacity, though local storage in the Pikes Peak region stands at 66% capacity due to multiple reservoirs being out of commission for maintenance. To trigger water restrictions, storage must sink to below 1.5 years of supply.
Customers have cut their water use substantially in the last quarter century, even as the population served by Utilities has risen by roughly 200,000 people, to about 500,000, according to a chart presented by staff on Wednesday. In fact, officials praised customers for their conservation efforts, crediting those efforts as a key reason water usage has remained relatively flat for about two decades.
Go here to find out more about the “water wise” rules recommended by Utilities.
The staff report noted that February water usage averaged 41.1 million gallons per day, about 1.6% less than February 2025. So far this year, 1.07 inches of precipitation has been measured, which Utilities said is 175.4% of normal.
But snowpack in the Colorado River Headwaters Basin is a mere 65% of normal as of mid-March, and in the Arkansas River Basin, it’s even worse – 44% of normal.
Meantime, this year is proving to be warmer than normal, about 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal thus far this year, and 8.4 degrees above normal in February.
Though the outlook for the coming three months predicts only slightly higher chances of above-normal temperatures and near normal precipitation, the low snowpack and lower soil moisture bodes for “significantly below average runoff this season,” according to a presentation to the Utilities Board.
Rate relief, for now
Colorado Springs Utilities on Wednesday proposed decreases in electric and natural gas fuel cost adjustments, which together officials said would lower the average residential customer’s monthly bill by $9.72.
That’s about the same amount that customers’ bills are likely to rise to fund repair of leaky gas pipes that Utilities has been mandated by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to fix in the next 10 years. That rate increase is anticipated to become effective in July and last for at least five years, though Utilities officials have said it’s likely to continue after that to fund the work, estimated at $300 million.
The proposed fuel cost reductions reflect lower forecasted gas prices this year, Utilities said in a release. If approved by City Council, which also sits as the Utilities Board, the new rate would become effective on April 1.
In the release, Utilities said the fuel changes would lower the typical commercial bill by $175.35 a month, and an industrial bill by $2,866.76 a month.
The last fuel rate change took place in July 2025, when the average residential monthly bill increased by about 25 cents.
The release gave this explanation: “Fuel rates – also known as cost adjustments – are directly tied to the cost of fuel and can increase or decrease quarterly. As a nonprofit, community‑owned utility, Springs Utilities passes fuel cost changes directly to customers (typically up to four times a year including changes in January, April, July and October).
“To help protect customers from market volatility,” it continued, “Springs Utilities purchases natural gas when demand and prices are lower, stores supply in leased underground storage and uses long‑range planning tools to lock in portions of supply at more stable prices. These strategies help keep rates competitive with other Front Range utilities and allow customers to benefit when fuel costs decline.”
The change doesn’t alter base rates, which fund system maintenance, upgrades, regulatory compliance and other utility operations. In an unprecedented move, City Council in 2024 approved base rate increases annually for five years, from 2025 through 2029 for all four services “to support long‑term system needs.”
In addition to the electric and gas fuel cost adjustments, the rate case includes an increase, not a decrease, in the “green power service rate,” from $0.0323 per kilowatt hour to $0.0362 per kWh.
Utilities spokesman Alex Trefry said in response to questions that the Green Power rate is routinely updated alongside the gas and electric fuel cost adjustments. “The reason for the slight rate increase for Green Power customers is to account for a rate change from the Western Area Power Administration,” Trefrey said. “This is a federal agency that is currently the balancing authority for our renewable energy resources.” (A balancing authority is an entity responsible for maintaining balance between electric supply and demand for a specific geographic area.)
“They [WAPA] increased their rate for these balancing costs. As a community owned utility, we pass increases or decreases in costs directly to the specific customer class – in this case, Green Power customers,” he said.
The Green Power program, which allows customers to sign on to receive power from renewables, serves roughly 1,500 customers.
