Study deems municipalization unfeasible in Pueblo

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - Many eyes on Monday night were on Pueblo's city council work session as an update was given on the city's municipalization survey.

We've seen one estimate on what it would cost to create a city-owned electric utility in Pueblo: $1.1 billion, according to a study commissioned by Black Hills Energy.

On Monday night, city leaders got their first look at the study they commissioned.

We can't make the comparison just yet of the two because there were no numbers revealed on the city's side; only the conclusion of the study.

Like the study commissioned by Black Hills, it's concluded that municipalization is not feasible in Pueblo.

"The preliminary analysis indicates that acquiring Black Hills Electric utility assets within the city limits alone is not financially feasible at this time," Andrew Hayes said.

Hayes is the Director of Public Works, answering a $300,000 question.

That's how much the city of Pueblo paid a consultant firm to determine the effects of moving away from Black Hills Energy.

Some council members Monday night were not satisfied with the findings, "It's kind of too bad. I think we failed the community. We told them that we would bring them a feasibility study...it's not feasible and never says whether they can lower the rates or not. That's what the community is interested in. They're interested in lowering rates," Regina Maestri said.

"Budget constraints, rate costs, and other factors" were all cited as to why the municipal-only option won't work.

However, other ideas are still being floated. "At the size and scale of what we are looking at with this municipal-only option, there are prospective other opportunities that may come to pass with a larger scale acquisition or a system-wide acquisition," Hayes said.

Hayes is talking about an even bigger plan to take over an even larger chunk of Black Hills' infrastructure in order to serve other communities outside Pueblo, a plan that would require the participation of those other jurisdictions beforehand.

We should have more answers within the next 7-10 days. That's when the final version of the feasibility study is set to be released to the public.

To clarify, the question of whether or not to stay with Black Hills Energy will still go to voters in a May special election.