Survey of Pueblo voters shows strong support for leaving Black Hills Energy

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- A new poll overseen by the city of Pueblo says voters are ready to move on from Black Hills Energy and towards a Public Electric Utility.

The group ETC Institute administered the survey by sending questions to a random sampling of households throughout Pueblo -- 480 people responded through mail and online.

Of the 417 who responded to the question, “Do you support terminating the Black Hills Energy franchise and forming a municipal electric utility,” 266 of those said yes (63.8%), while 151 said no (36.2%).

Pueblo City Council voted unanimously to approve a ballot question last month asking residents if they want to leave the city's current electricity provider and forming its own public electric utility.

The question will appear on a ballot for Pueblo voters in a special election to be held on May 5. If approved by voters, the ballot item would terminate the city's franchise agreement with Black Hills Energy and amend the city's charter.

The charter would authorize the Pueblo Board of Water Works to operate as both the city's water and electric works, and purchase or condemn Black Hills Energy's assets.

Proponents of the transition to a public electric utility say Black Hills Energy's electricity rates are too high, and are hurting economic growth in Pueblo.

Those against the ballot measure have a different take. If approved, the measure could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The following is a statement to KRDO from Black Hills Energy in regards to the new city funded survey:

"The City’s one question regarding the government takeover on the recently released Community Survey simply asks citizens if the City should terminate the franchise with Black Hills Energy and create a municipal utility. It doesn’t ask if they are willing to provide a blank check, borrow hundreds of millions of dollars, and give up the ability to vote on future expenditures, which is exactly what the ballot question does."

Back in August of 2019, the group ‘Bring Power Home 2020’ funded a separate survey. Out of 339 Pueblo voters that filled out that survey, around 72% said they would support a ballot measure to leave Black Hills Energy and pursue an alternate energy provider. The survey had a margin of error of 5.3%.