HB26-1129 would change Colorado’s clean heat planning rules for gas distribution utilities by excluding carbon dioxide emissions from residential gas combustion from the emissions baseline and projected emissions used in clean heat plans. It also allows utilities that already filed a plan to submit a revised plan reflecting that exclusion, and requires the Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules enabling revised plans. For utilities that have not yet filed by the bill’s deadline, future clean heat plans would have to omit residential emissions from the calculations.
The bill also creates a new category of “system safety and integrity project” and authorizes regulated gas distribution utilities to recover the projected costs of those projects annually through a rate adjustment clause. In addition, it repeals a current prohibition on gas utilities offering incentives, including line extension allowances, to customers to establish gas service to a property. The bill would take effect after the referendum period unless referred to voters.
Impact
The bill would amend Colorado’s clean heat statute, C.R.S. 40-3.2-108, by removing residential-sector gas combustion emissions from utility clean heat plan calculations and by directing the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to adopt implementing rules. It would also add a cost-recovery mechanism for gas utility infrastructure projects that improve safety or system integrity, and it would repeal provisions in C.R.S. 40-3.2-104.3 that bar gas utilities from providing incentives to establish new gas service. Overall, the bill would reduce the emissions obligations tied to residential gas customers while expanding utility authority to recover infrastructure costs and to promote gas service connections.
Sentiment
The available record suggests the bill was controversial and did not advance out of committee, as it was postponed indefinitely in the House Energy & Environment Committee. The bill’s sponsors appear to have framed it as a gas-utility service and infrastructure measure, while the structure of the bill indicates support for gas system investment and relief from clean heat compliance obligations related to residential customers. The lack of recorded votes or transcripts limits the ability to identify broader coalition support or opposition, but the committee outcome indicates at least enough concern to stop the bill at that stage.
Contention
The main point of contention is likely the bill’s treatment of residential emissions in clean heat planning. Opponents of the bill would likely view the exclusion as weakening Colorado’s climate and emissions-reduction requirements for gas utilities, while supporters would likely argue that residential emissions should not be counted against utility clean heat targets or that the change better aligns obligations with utility control. Another likely dispute is the bill’s mandate that the PUC not adopt rules that effectively prohibit gas infrastructure service to residential properties, which could be seen as limiting regulatory efforts to shift away from gas expansion. The cost-recovery provisions for system safety and integrity projects may also have raised concerns about ratepayer impacts and utility incentives.