Energy Office Applauds PUC’s Eastern Mountain Communities Settlement With Xcel That Will Save Customers Approximately $170 Million

Decision means Xcel Energy will invest in alternatives to new pipelines and provide rebates for energy efficiency and heat pumps

Denver - Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 - The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) finalized a decision Tuesday approving a settlement with Xcel Energy that will save customers roughly $170 million. As part of the settlement, Xcel will invest in alternatives to new gas pipelines, including providing rebates and incentives for customers to make energy efficiency upgrades or to switch from gas heating to electric heat pumps, which will become available immediately.

The settlement also includes a limited investment in compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquified natural gas (LNG) to help ensure reliable service in mountain communities during the coldest days. The settlement included Xcel, a coalition of local mountain community governments, the Colorado Energy Office, the Sierra Club, the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, and staff of the public utilities commission. Impacted communities include Breckenridge, Blue River, Keystone, Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon, and the area around Copper Mountain, as well as the communities in the Grand Lake, Leadville, and Red Cliff areas.

In January 2025, Xcel filed an application with the PUC to address constraints of the Eastern Mountain part of its gas system. In its initial application, Xcel estimated that the traditional pipeline infrastructure investment would cost roughly $325 million. The final settlement projected a cost of roughly $155 million and savings of roughly $170 million while providing the same level of safe, reliable service to customers.

In its decision to approve the settlement, the PUC concluded that "this project and its novel approach are likely to have far-reaching benefits across the system, especially in learning and evolving the Company's NPA [non-pipe alternative] approaches."

Colorado Energy Office Executive Director Will Toor issued the following statement regarding the decision:

"The settlement to address the gas system constraints in the mountains is a new model for how Xcel and local governments can work together to ensure they are meeting customer interests by cutting costs while providing safe, reliable service in ways that align with local environmental goals. We are grateful to Xcel, the local governments involved in the stakeholding process - including the Towns of Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon, Silverthorne, Keystone, and Blue River, and Summit County - and the PUC for their work on this important decision that will save Coloradans money, further modernize our energy system, and help us reach our climate goals."

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