Xcel Energy will cut Colorado bills again in April

Company cites declining natural gas prices

BY MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN

Xcel Energy is again cutting natural gas costs passed through to consumers starting with April bills, the third price decrease announced in two months, even as a special legislative committee pursues hearings on spikes that overwhelmed Colorado consumers beginning late in 2022.

e latest cut, proposed to the Public Utilities Commission for Xcel’s 1 million Colorado customers for the second quarter of 2023, will take $1.79 or 4% o the average household natural gas bill each month compared to the March bill. Because Xcel also uses natural gas to generate some of its electricity, consumers’ home electric bills will also drop an average of 56 cents over their March bill, or a drop of 2.7%.

In mid-February, Xcel made an “interim” monthly cut to natural gas pass through costs that trimmed March bills by an average of $11.60, or 11.5%. Electric costs were cut $2.08 a month or 2.34%.

Other cuts of the pass-through cost