Senate Gives Initial Sign Off on Fenberg, Hansen Bill to Modernize Colorado’s Electric Grid, Position State to Meet Climate Goals Moves Forward
Legislation aims to speed up distribution system upgrades, meet Colorado’s long-term electrification goals, and support a robust workforce
DENVER, CO – Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee approved legislation sponsored by Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, and Senator Chris Hansen, D-Denver, to modernize Colorado’s energy distribution systems.
In order to accomplish Colorado’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meet state and federal decarbonization targets, Colorado’s electric grid needs updating. Coloradans have faced delays when installing electric vehicle chargers or rooftop solar, and delays in meeting our larger transportation and building electrification goals will persist if the distribution system isn’t updated.
SB24-218 includes a suite of policy changes to modernize and prepare the electric grid for the future. Improving the distribution system would help communities and utility consumers electrify heating and cooling in buildings, accelerate the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure and solar energy, and reduce air pollution.
“Colorado has ambitious goals of rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electricity generation, building heating and cooling, water heating, and industrial fuel uses,” said Fenberg. “To reliably and affordably reduce emissions to meet our decarbonization targets, Colorado needs to shift its reliance from fossil fuels to a cleaner electric grid. From requiring investments in undergrounding to maintaining rate stability, this comprehensive bill will improve our distribution infrastructure and help us meet our climate goals.”
“After the major power outages at the beginning of April, it was clear that utilities need to do more to guarantee energy resiliency during extreme weather or natural disasters,” said Hansen. “We need a strong electricity system to make sure we can reduce emissions, lower consumer costs, and improve reliability. After months of work, this bill strikes the right balance between making much-needed investments in our distribution system while protecting ratepayers, and I’m proud to see it move forward.”
The bill directs investor-owned utilities with more than 500,000 customers (qualified utility) to modernize the electric grid to the benefit of customers and to achieve state energy goals by:
Improving distribution system planning to ensure investments meet transportation and building electrification goals, support distributed energy resources, and prepare for a changing energy marketplace;
Addressing the cost allocation for infrastructure upgrades to avoid one customer paying for the cost of a system upgrade that would support state electrification goals and benefit other customers;
Providing a long-term structure for how utilities will recover costs for distribution system upgrades while maintaining rate stability;
Making workforce investments to provide the skilled workforce required to achieve these infrastructure upgrades;
Clarifying the process and timeline for accommodating beneficial electrification loads and connecting customer-sited distributed energy resources to the qualified utility electrical grid;
Establishing a Virtual Power Plant program that can help save customers money by taking advantage of distributed energy resources; and
Expanding the undergrounding of powerlines and other community benefit investments to avoid the risks of wildfires and power outages during severe weather events.
SB24-218 passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and second reading today and now heads to the Senate floor. Follow its progress HERE.