KDVR’s Heather Willard reports that Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission finalized the state’s Clean Heat plan, requiring gas utilities to cut greenhouse gas emissions 41 percent by 2035 from a 2015 baseline, while allowing recovered methane as a compliance option. The commission declined to set targets beyond 2035 but reminded utilities the statewide goal is 100 percent reduction by 2050 compared to 2005.
The story includes sharp pushback from House GOP leaders Jarvis Caldwell and Ty Winter, who say the mandate amounts to statewide electrification that will force costly heat pumps and appliances onto homeowners and small businesses. Utilities and activists also weighed in: Xcel said it looks forward to implementing the plan, the Sierra Club hailed health and climate benefits, and Black Hills warned the 2015 baseline makes the targets far more aggressive due to customer and usage growth.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The PUC locked in a 41 percent gas-system emission cut by 2035, anchored to a 2015 baseline, with recovered methane allowed.
- Commissioners nodded to the statewide 2050 net-zero statute, telling gas utilities to plan accordingly even without new interim targets.
- GOP leaders blasted the decision as “electrification by mandate” that will push heat pumps and new appliances on families and raise rates.
- Black Hills warned that growth since 2015 makes the “modest” goal aggressive in practice; Xcel endorsed moving ahead; Sierra Club cheered.
- Republicans say rural Colorado will pay hardest, with job losses and higher bills; Democrats offered no immediate response in the piece.
My Bottom Line
Normie Coloradans need to wake up. Governor Gaslight and his appointed PUC are picking winners and losers for how you heat, cook, and live. They are not nudging. They are mandating. When regulators peg the future to a 2015 baseline and a 41 percent cut, they are telling you what equipment you will own and what fuel you will use. That is control dressed up as climate.
I appreciate clean, reliable energy from any source. But this is not about innovation. It is about authority. If a homeowner wants a heat pump, great. If a restaurant needs natural gas, let them cook. The PUC’s glidepath squeezes choice out of the market and pretends rising bills are a virtue.
Colorado should measure success in cents per kilowatt hour, winter reliability, and customer choice. Stop deputizing utilities as lifestyle police. Give families honest price signals and let them choose what works. We passed the off-ramp eight years ago. Time to U-turn before policy turns into rationing by another name.
Source: KDVR
