When I ran for the City Council in 2013, the question I heard most was, “Are you in favor of selling Utilities?” I said no and my answer is still the same. However, Colorado Springs Utilities’ residential rates are now among the highest along the Front Range. How did that happen?

Over the past 10 years, the price of fuel operations and maintenance decreased by 10 percent, but the cost of Utilities’ expenditures increased 33 percent. Inflation was 20.8 percent, but residential rates increased by 52 percent. There is no excuse for burdening the ratepayers with these increases.

Denver does not own its electric and gas utilities, but it does own Denver Water. Also, it should be noted that the board of Denver Water is not directly elected but appointed by the mayor of Denver. Nevertheless, the average residential utility bill in Denver – natural gas, water, and electric – is 25 percent less than the average utility bill in Colorado Springs.

Utilities’ mission statement is “to provide safe, reliable, competitively priced electric, natural gas, water and wastewater services to the citizen owners and customers of Colorado Springs Utilities.” We are not making the grade when it comes to competitive rates.

Increases in costs are due in part to federal regulation. Because of the technology required to meet emissions requirements, coal plants becoming exceeding costly. To nip that problem in the bud, the City Council, acting as governing board of Utilities, voted Wednesday to close Drake by 2035.

Another driver of costs is employees’ benefits and compensation. Until 1995, raises for Utilities and city employees were tethered together. That practice held employee salaries at relative parity.

In the years since the decoupling, wages at Utilities have grown at a faster rate than those of city employees. The average cost for a Utilities employee’s salary and benefits is $103,000 per year, while the average cost for a city employee’s salary and benefits is $74,465 per year.

From 2005 to 2014, Utilities employees received, in aggregate, $6,792,000 more in raises than city employees, even though more people work for the city than for Utilities. The average Utilities employee received $12,657 in raises, while the average city employee received $6,586 in raises.

Utilities claims its employee costs are aligned with the market for each skilled position, and some of its skilled jobs do require higher pay. However, requirements for most of their jobs are very similar to the requirements for city jobs.

We can and must do better. First, pay increases for both city and Utilities employees should be pegged to the city’s budget growth rate or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

Second, Utilities must do a better job forecasting electricity consumption by industrial ratepayers. The inaccuracy in the current forecast modeling has resulted in the other rate classes, especially residential, paying the difference in higher rates. Lastly, the City Council, as the governing board of Utilities, must have the freedom to hire staff to do independent research. The current structure does not afford the council access to the research we need to provide the level of oversight Utilities ratepayers demand and deserve.

We can and should provide rates equal to or less than our regional competitors’ rates. We can and should cut capital costs and cost of service. We must stop raising rates every year.

The City Council needs to take a more active role in governing Colorado Springs Utilities. With greater diligence on our part, Utilities could again become one of the most cost-efficient utilities along the Front Range.

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Keith King represents District 3 on the

Colorado Springs City Council.

Keith King May 5, 2015