Rate Changes

As a member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative, CORE is not beholden to stockholders or investors. Our cooperative’s margins are typically invested back into the grid and, whenever possible, capital credits are returned to members. We also work to provide members safe, reliable power and charge only what we need to acquire and distribute it.

In recent years, consumer costs have increased significantly for most goods and services. You likely have seen these increases in the food you eat, fuel for your vehicle, your cell phone plan, and many other things essential to your lifestyle. Electric utilities, including CORE, are affected by the same external factors driving up costs for other products and services.

Continued and significant increases in what we pay to deliver power have prompted our elected board of directors to approve changes to the cooperative’s rates and regulations that take effect starting with January 2026 bills. The changes will result in an effective average rate increase of 6.7% across our residential, commercial, industrial and other services. More specifically, the changes increase the on-peak demand charge and per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) rate for most services.

For members on our residential service, the on-peak demand charge will increase to $5.47. The residential energy charge will increase to $0.1155 per kWh. The monthly basic service charge will remain $20.

A redlined version of the rates is available here. A summary of the changes to each rate class is available here.

Why rate increases are necessary

CORE raises rates only when absolutely necessary. Our most recent rate changes took effect with September 2025 bills and resulted in an increase of about 5% for most members. The September 2025 and January 2026 rate increases are necessary to help cover many cost pressures we anticipate will continue for the foreseeable future. Those pressures include:

Supply chain issues. Costs for materials from copper wire to transformers have increased due to production issues in the U.S. and abroad. Demand for these supplies and materials has also increased as demand for electricity grows.
Tax incentive rollbacks. Many new service and product contracts are based on the existing tax credit environment, and any reduction in tax credits results in increased contract costs.
Regulatory uncertainty. Transmission interconnection delays, tariffs on materials and other regulatory changes affect costs for our cooperative.
System growth. Beneficial electrification, data needs and organic population growth in CORE’s service area continue to drive the need for additional power generation and significant upgrades throughout our system.

What CORE is doing

Our goal is to keep rate increases as low as possible even as we continue to deliver safe, reliable power. To do so, we have implemented multiple smaller rate increases instead of a single large rate increase. This approach allows CORE to respond more accurately to real-time cost changes, carefully review budgets, delay non-essential capital projects and identify savings opportunities. It also is intended to make rate changes more manageable for our members.

We also have ended our legacy supply agreement with Public Service Company of Colorado — a subsidiary of Xcel Energy — to build a more diverse power supply portfolio of wind, solar, natural gas and battery storage that gives CORE more flexibility and control.

What members can do

We understand that rate increases affect our members and recommend several free actions they can take to potentially reduce their energy costs.

Enroll in SmartHub, our account management platform, which offers several functions that allow members to monitor and manage their energy usage. Log in to access usage alerts, usage exploration, planning, usage comparisons and other features. Learn more here.
Consider one of CORE’s free payment options, such as Budget Billing, which allows you to pay an average amount per month rather than higher amounts during high-usage months, or Advance Pay, through which you choose the amount you pre-pay for your electricity. Read about our free billing and payment options here.
Time your use of high-wattage appliances to avoid the on-peak period of 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., or stagger such use during those hours. For example, use your oven from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and your dryer from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., rather than use both at the same time. Visit the Demand Charge webpage for more information.
Visit our Energy Efficiency webpage for tips on how to reduce consumption and lower energy costs.