Polis signs bill to reduce energy costs and carbon footprint
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(COLORADO) — Governor Polis signed legislation on Wednesday, May 22 to save Coloradans money on their energy bill.
HB24-1370 will expand opportunities for neighborhood-scale energy projects as alternatives to natural gas.
“Expanding and maintaining natural gas infrastructure is expensive, and this law will help drive down the cost of natural gas in communities across the state by strategically exploring opportunities to utilize alternative energy sources, ” said Rep. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins. “By creating pilot communities which use alternatives to natural gas, we can help reach our climate goals and expand cost-effective alternative energy sources into homes across our state. This law saves people money on their energy bill and speeds up our clean energy transition.”
The law will help local governments develop neighborhood-scale energy projects, like geothermal systems, that provide an alternative to natural gas to reduce costs and lower emissions, thus saving Coloradans money while reducing the state’s carbon footprint.
This law would require the Colorado Energy Office to identify up to five local governments served by dual-fuel utilities that are interested in becoming a gas planning pilot community and create a proposal. The proposal would be submitted and approved by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), and the approved local governments would enter into an agreement with a utility to identify and develop neighborhood-scale alternative projects. Under this law, local governments and OUC must submit a plan for at least one project to the PUC by June 1, 2026.
The goal of this law is to streamline alternative energy solutions in communities across the state to help reach Colorado’s climate goals and save individuals money on their energy bill.
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