FROM

A publication of

DENVER, COLORADO

VOLUME 95 | ISSUE 18

Electric bills to get 6.4% increase in April

Customers to see $16.50 per month increase after PUC approval

BY MARK JAFFE THE COLORADO SUN

The average electric bill for Xcel Energy’s residential customers will go up $5.24 a month — a 6.4% increase — starting in April under a $182 million rate hike approved March 16 by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

The PUC voted 3-0 to accept the increase, which was agreed upon in rate-case negotiations that included the Colorado Utility Consumer Advocate and Energy Outreach Colorado, a nonprofi t advocacy organization that, among other things, helps low-income households pay utility bills.

“Although a 6.42% rate is troubling to me, I fi nd the settlement is just and reasonable,” Commissioner John Gavin said.

Rates for the average small commercial customer will also rise 6.2% or about $6.62 a month.

There will be more Xcel Energy electricity rate cases to come, said Ron Davis, the commission’s chief adviser. “The company will be back in for rate requests in the next 3 or 4 years at the outside.”

Utilities’ expenses and investments are recovered through rate cases. The PUC reviews those costs to assure they are appropriate and then sets an appropriate return on the investments the company has made. In this case, for example, Xcel Energy asked for a 10% return on investment and the settlement agreement reduced it to 9.3%.

In addition to the electricity rate increase Xcel Energy also is asking for a temporary rate increase to recoup $550 million in extra electric and natural gas costs incurred as a

SEE INCREASE, P2

Telling history with imagination

Nashville Ballet brings ‘Lucy Negro Redux’ to University of Denver

BY CLARKE READER SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Finding steady footing in spaces that have historically been antagonistic to your presence is no small thing. But that’s just one of the things that united Caroline Randall Williams, Rhiannon Giddens and Kayla Rowser when they worked on the Nashville Ballet’s world premiere of “Lucy Negro Redux” in 2019.

For Williams, a poet and writer, that space was Shakespearean scholarship; in Giddens’ case, it was the bluegrass genre; and for Rowser, the world of ballet. And while being Women of Color pioneering their way into these areas gave them a shared experience to relate to, it also put them on the same footing as the character of Lucy — a Black woman making a life in Shakespearean England.

Now Lucy’s story is coming to Denver.

“The story is so wholly a ballet and so wholly a stage performance of poetry and music,” Williams said. “If you love musicals, you’ll enjoy it. If you love world class

The Nashville Ballet will be performing at the Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver on March 29 and 30. The performance will be an original production based on the book “Lucy Negro Redux” by NAACP award-winning author Caroline Randall Williams, who will be sharing spoken word during the performance alongside music performed by Grammy award-winner

Rhiannon Giddens. COURTESY PHOTO

SEE BALLET, P2

Clear Creek supports Mount Blue Sky petition

Federal board has fi nal decision on Mount Evans renaming issue

BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Clear Creek offi cials support renaming Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky.

In a March 15 meeting, the Clear Creek Board of County Commissioners voted 2-0 to register its support for the Mount Blue Sky petition. Commissioners Randy Wheelock and George Marlin were in favor, and Commissioner Sean Wood abstained.

The mountain is named for Colorado’s second territorial governor, John Evans, who’s believed to have authorized the Sand Creek Massacre

SEE PETITION, P4

INSIDE:

VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 9

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