DENVER — Xcel Energy expects to seek natural gas rate increases in 2023 after Colorado utilities regulators slashed the rate hike the power company sought this year.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission OK'd a $64 million natural gas rate hike for what the utility can charge its 1.4 million customers in the Denver metro area and elsewhere in the state.
That’s significantly smaller than what Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, the largest utility in Colorado, had sought to add to the customers’ bills through 2024.
The natural gas system is vital to Xcel Energy’s business in Colorado, and it expects to come back with rate increase requests to the PUC again, said Bob Frenzel, CEO of Xcel Energy.
“We likely will have to go back in some time in 2023 for a new gas case,” he said on a quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts.
RELATED: Xcel Energy's natural gas rate hike proposal slashed by regulators, saving customers millions
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