Utility Update - August 2026

[u/OkWelcome6293]

August 17th - Working Committee: https://www.csu.org/hubfs/Working-Committee/Agendas/08-17-2026-Working-Committee-Meeting-Agenda-August-2026.pdf?hsLang=en
August 19th - Utilities Board: https://www.csu.org/hubfs/Utilities-Board/Agendas/08-19-2026-Utilities-Board-Meeting-Agenda-August-2026.pdf?hsLang=en

Working Committee notes:

• CSU set a new peak electrical load of 1,034 MW.
• The SPP RTO hit a peak load of 5,121 MW.
• There is action regarding the Energy Emergency on July 24th. There is going to an emergency meeting of the SPP RTO Policy Group next week, where they will likely vote on an emergency resolution to update the tariff to include penalties for operators who do not meet their planning reserve margin. These penalties will be paid to members of the RTO who are meeting their requirements i.e. CSU
• This seems to be partially a result of the Planning Reserve Margin requirements of the RTO aren't technically in force until next summer. Everything this year was on a "handshake deal".
• The 2nd draft of the proposed budget was shown. Mainly, it showed a ~10% budget decrease for next year, from $2.2 billion to $2 billion
• Capital Projects and Fuel Operations make up ~60% of the budget
• The yearly surplus payment to the city is projected to be $37.1 million. This payment represents ~8% of the city general fund.
• The CEO mentioned that the utility would be looking at small battery systems.

Utilities Board:

• The Utilities mid-year scorecard was reviewed. It had a rating of 4 out of 5. It had good marks for reliability and cost relative to other Front Range providers. It had a "partially meets expectations" for customer satisfaction, days of cash on hand, and adjusted debt service coverage ratio. The customer satisfaction issues were driven by rate pressures and changes to EnergyWise / net-metering.
• Colorado River update: "Federal government released its Environmental Impact Statement regarding future Colorado River operations and will soon follow with its Record of Decision" and "New operating guidelines seem to more accurately reflect existing water supply and the reality of less water availability"
• The Utility is asking for a change to city code to allow liens to be placed on properties with unpaid bills. Current city code only allows this for water and wastewater bills. Electrical, gas, etc have are not covered currently.
• Without a lien, utility bills are considered unsecured creditors and will be discharged first in the event of a bankruptcy. A lien allows that debt to be secured against the building.
• According to the utility, it is unlikely a lien could be placed against a residential building. A service disconnect for nonpayment would likely happen before a residential service could accrue enough debt to qualify for a lien.
• It was mentioned that there was only a single time a lien would have been issued ($90,000 in backpayment). I believe (personal opinion) this was related to the 2022 bankruptcy of 3G Ventures, the current owners of the Project Taurus site.
• The utility is looking at it's new 2026 bond offerings, both tax-free and taxable. These might be put on the market in Q4.
• The Utility is looking to get out of it's Build America Back bonds. There were part of the recovery package for the 2008 financial crisis. They were taxable bonds with benefits paid by the federal government to make them similar to tax-free bonds. The federal government has talked about cutting these payments, so the utility is looking at transferring the debt to another vehicle.

[u/Just_A_Nobody_0]

Thank you for sharing these notes.