As a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative, CORE raises rates only when absolutely necessary.
Continued increases in the costs to deliver safe, reliable power have prompted CORE’s elected board of directors to approve changes to the cooperative’s rates and regulations that will take effect starting with March 2024 bills. The changes include:
• An average 3% increase to base rates
• Decreases to the per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) charges for most residential services
• Updates to several existing fees to better reflect CORE’s actual costs
• Discontinuance of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) opt-outs
• The addition of a plant investment fee (PIF) that will primarily affect large-scale development projects
• Minor updates to other parts of the cooperative’s rates and regulations
As part of the changes, residential members will see an average rate increase of approximately 3.3%. The monthly basic service charge will increase to $17.25, and the “on-peak” demand charge will increase to $3.
CORE understands that even a slight increase in rates affects our members. Your power needs are our priority in any decision regarding rate increases. These changes to the rates and regulations are necessary for our cooperative to cover the actual costs of power.
• In the last decade, CORE’s rates have gone up about 11%, even as inflation has grown 34% and our operational costs have increased 42%.
• Even with the March 2024 changes, average bills for CORE residential members will remain lower than those of most other Colorado electric utilities, many of which plan to increase rates by 8% to 10%.
• The new basic service charge of $17.25 will remain significantly lower than CORE’s actual cost to serve, which is $22.51. It also will be the second-lowest such charge among Colorado electric cooperatives, the 19th-lowest among 57 Colorado electric utilities, and the 13th-lowest among the country’s 50 largest cooperatives. Residential accounts enrolled in Paperless Billing will receive a $0.55-per-month credit to their basic service charge.
Increase in costs for CORE to deliver electric service since 2013
Inflation since 2013
Total increase in CORE base rates since 2013
We continue to identify and implement measures to help mitigate financial impacts to our members, including:
• Partnering with Invenergy – the leading privately held developer, owner and operator of sustainable energy solutions – on an affordable, flexible, diverse power supply to begin in 2026, after our current power purchase agreement with Xcel Energy expires
• Obtaining from Fitch Ratings an “AA-” long-term issuer default rating, which allows CORE to secure the most competitive interest rates from lenders
• Investing in utility-scale renewable energy sources that allow us to purchase power at or below the rate we pay for power from non-renewable sources
• Employing a lean workforce of fewer than 300 full-time professionals who serve more than 180,000 active services – an employee-to-member ratio of 1:619
• Returning to members a share of our annual margins, in the form of capital credits
• Maintaining a small, reasonable margin between our year-to-year operating revenue and the costs of electric service
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