Jan 8 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Dennis Darrow The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.


Black Hills Energy will seek close to a 13 percent rate hike on its electricity customers in Pueblo and other areas of Southeastern Colorado by mid-summer, executives said Wednesday.

The rate hike comes six years after the last rate hike and is unrelated to the cost of the utility's proposal to build a natural gas-fired plant in Pueblo, the executives said.

A separate rate hike proposal related to the new plant could come by 2011, executives said.

Before any rate hike takes effect, Black Hills must receive approval by the state Public Utilities Commission in Denver, the governor-appointed panel that oversees utilities across the state.
 

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