Black Hills Energy has asked Colorado regulators to approve a $26.7 million increase in annual electric revenues, citing approximately $184 million in grid and generation investments made since the company’s last rate review.
Black Hills Corp. announced that its Colorado electric utility filed a rate review application with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on June 12, 2026, requesting recovery of the necessary capital infrastructure and operational costs required to deliver safe, reliable electric service to over 102,000 customers in Southern Colorado.
What the filing covers
The company is seeking $26.7 million in new annual revenue for recovery of approximately $184 million of investments since its last rate review, including additions in 2024 to improve reliability, strengthen the electric grid, and extend the life of key generation infrastructure.
The filing also seeks to roll into base rates certain costs associated with Black Hills’s Peak View Wind Facility.
The proceeding has been assigned docket number 26AL-0232E at the Colorado PUC.
Customer bill impact and proposed offsets
Subject to approval by the PUC, the rate proposal would result in an average monthly bill increase for Colorado residential customers of $10.90 per month, or 8.8 percent.
A $38 million customer refund is a core component of the rate proposal, and would help reduce the customer bill impact. The refund is the result of dollars previously collected to fund new renewable energy projects required under the company’s Renewable Energy Standard Plan and Clean Energy Plan.
As proposed, new rates would take effect in March 2027.
Utility’s investment rationale
The filing comes as Colorado’s two investor-owned electric utilities both have active or recently concluded proceedings before regulators. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved a $157 million annual electric rate increase for Xcel Energy on August 20, 2026, reducing Xcel’s initial request for $356 million in annual revenue by 56 percent. A non-unanimous settlement agreement had reduced the request to a $225 million increase, with an estimated 5.86 percent increase for residential customers.
Since the company’s last rate review in 2024, Black Hills Energy has invested approximately $184 million to improve reliability, strengthen the electric grid, and extend the life of key generation infrastructure. Key outcomes cited in the filing include achieving nearly first-quartile reliability performance nationally, and improving 195 miles of distribution line by adding, upgrading, or replacing over 1,000 transformers and conductors. The filing also notes upgrades to more than 2,500 poles, as well as strengthening the transmission backbone near Cañon City with two new 69 kV transmission lines so that power can be rerouted quickly during an outage.
Black Hills Corp. is a utility company based in Rapid City, South Dakota, serving 1.37 million natural gas and electric utility customers in eight states: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. The Colorado electric operation is one slice of that broader footprint, focused on Southern Colorado communities.
The rate review pattern is not unique to Colorado. Across the country, utilities have been returning to regulators with frequency as they seek to recover multi-year backlogs of capital spending. Arizona’s largest utility recently sought a 14 percent bill hike after accumulating $1.7 billion in grid investments since its last rate review, with the state attorney general scrutinizing more than $148 million of that yearly ask.
What comes next in Colorado
The Colorado PUC regulates electric rates for the state’s two investor-owned utilities, Xcel Energy and Black Hills Electric, and each must seek PUC approval for the rates charged to their customers. Rate cases are initiated by the utility in order to recover the costs of recent investments, including safety, reliability, and integrity of the electric system.
PUC staff of economists, engineers, and accountants will conduct an independent review, scrutinizing each element of the filing before any decision is issued.
Black Hills submitted its rate review proposal to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on June 12, 2026, requesting a rate update to recover these investments and adjust for the rising cost of operating and maintaining its Colorado electric system.
Black Hills customers may provide written comments throughout the case, and the Commission will schedule public comment hearings to receive oral comments before it issues its final decision. Comments may be submitted to the PUC using docket number 26AL-0232E, and a formal procedural schedule, including public comment periods and evidentiary hearings, is expected to be set before any final order is issued.
