This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
Lawmakers passed a bill reauthorizing a powerful state regulatory body last week, after pushback from Xcel Energy and a coalition of business and labor groups.
HB26-1326 reauthorizes the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for another seven years. The PUC regulates thousands of businesses, including monopoly utilities like Xcel, ride-share operators, telecommunications giants, towing companies and other private entities.
Every few years, lawmakers review and reauthorize the commission, through what’s called a “sunset” review. That process began in October 2025, after a state policy office submitted a lengthy report to improve the PUC.
Some of those suggested improvements, however, were controversial.
One proposed measure was to require “securitization” for certain utility projects. It’s a wonky tool that packages utility debt into bonds sold on Wall Street, widely used by utilities to pay for massive, unexpected price shocks — like for rebuilding power lines after wildfires, or retiring nuclear or coal plants.
It’s being increasingly proposed as a way to keep soaring electricity prices under control. Because utilities don’t earn a profit from those bonds, consumers often see lower charges on their bills.
Securitization provides “another tool to protect ratepayers for very large types of investments that will be needed in the future,” said PUC director Rebecca White during an April hearing.
Xcel, labor and business groups opposed the measure — which was ultimately stripped from the bill.
“Everybody’s a little happy, a little upset, and that’s a good place to be when we’re doing this policy,” said Colorado Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez (D) about the bill during a hearing last week.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the PUC said the bill makes “important changes to improve the PUC’s oversight and efficiency.”
Those changes include allowing the PUC to order a utility like Xcel to hire third-party contractors to run some of its customer programs, like for home batteries or rebates, with protections for organized labor.
Another measure orders the PUC to study whether it should add more commissioners – there are currently three. Xcel and business groups pushed for expanding the commission to five members, arguing it would create more “ideological diversity” on the commission. Environmental groups pushed back during hearings, and said a larger commission could lead to delays and increased expenses.
Another scrapped section would have allowed municipal utilities and other groups to appeal local land use decisions to the PUC. They might seek an appeal if a county board of commissioners denies a permit for a transmission line, for instance.
Currently, only giant, investor-owned utilities can take those appeals to the PUC.
The bill is awaiting the governor’s signature.
Editor's Note: Xcel Energy is a financial supporter of CPR News. Financial supporters have no editorial influence.
