WASHINGTON D.C. — Colorado Congressional District 8 Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Fort Lupton, is being praised for his work on federal legislation requiring Colorado regulators to make sure the state’s electrical grid is stable and can reliably supply the energy Coloradans depend on.
Under H.R. 3628, titled “State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act,” all states will be required to make sure their energy resource plans are sufficient and from reliable facilities, which is defined further as facilities capable of supplying electricity continuously for at least 30 days.
The bill, which must still pass the Senate, specifies that the 30 days includes days involving severe weather and ability to provide “essential grid services such as frequency and voltage support.” Colorado’s mandate for 100 percent renewable energy by 2040, however, is in conflict with that, as majority Democrats over the past few years have drastically decreased the state’s production of coal, as well as oil and gas production in favor of wind and sun energy, which can be a handicap during periods of bad weather.
Energy costs rising
Evans has been a vocal critic of such policies since his own time serving in the Colorado House, which he says have deteriorated dependable resources rapidly, causing energy rates to skyrocket.
“Colorado’s energy crisis is due to none other than the state’s ruling Democrats that have prioritized out-of-touch policies over the hard-working people’s pocketbooks,” Evans told Complete Colorado. “Rates continue to skyrocket, while reliability continues to plummet, leaving Coloradans without the energy that they need to power their homes, medical equipment, and other vital resources for hours; and in some cases, even days at a time.”
Most recent, was a 9 percent increase in rates announced by Xcel Energy in late November, which would increase the monopoly unitality’s annual revenue by more than $350 million.
Additionally, Xcel, in recent years has shown an increasing inability to supply continuing energy with random blackouts and other issues that have kept its grid operating unreliably.
According to a Colorado Sun report, “outages on the Xcel Energy grid have been increasing since 2014, but spiked in 2024, with the average customer outage rising to 352 minutes in 2024 from about 100 minutes in 2023.”
Reliability matters
The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) took that one step further saying Colorado faces losing new data center and manufacturing expansions because of its energy policies.
“Colorado, with significant natural gas reserves, is ideally positioned to take part in the AI data center and advanced manufacturing boom, ,” A CEA report says. “However, Colorado appears to be losing ground to neighboring states like Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming, which have energy policies focused on delivering affordable, reliable energy and which prioritize the ability to build natural gas and other energy infrastructure to meet future needs.”
Amy Cooke, co-host of the Colorado-focused PowerGab energy podcast, said Evans deserves credit for his leadership on the bill.
“It’s impressive to see this bipartisan effort to make reliability and affordability the central focus of electric resource planning,” Cooke said, adding her disappointment that Colorado’s Democrat representation in the US House opposed the bill. “For more than a decade, Colorado has evaluated its power system almost exclusively through a carbon emissions lens, while ignoring whether the lights stay on or families can afford their power bills. That approach is increasingly isolating our state economically and in terms of dependable generation. Congressman Evan’s legislation is a step toward restoring balance between environmental goals and the basic obligation to deliver reliable, affordable power.”
Evans said that since 2021, electric bills have surged a staggering 24 percent in Colorado. In national polling, 62 percent of Americans say their power bills have risen in the last year, 73 percent fear further increases, and according to U.S. Census data, roughly 80 million Americans struggle to pay their utility bills.
“My bill will hold state utility regulators like the Colorado Public Utilities Commission accountable to new federal standards ensuring they take into consideration the impacts of energy reliability on consumer costs,” Evans said. “I’m proud to lead the way on legislation that will make life more affordable for Coloradans, and secure our nation’s energy dominance.”
