Colorado industrial electricity rates

Analyst note

The Colorado industrial price sat above the U.S. average in 10 of 10 years; the gap was +0.49 ¢ in 2015 and +0.49 ¢ in 2024. In the 2024 ranking Colorado sits between Nevada (8.64 ¢) one place above and Wisconsin (8.54 ¢) one place below; the top of the list is 25.51 ¢ away and the bottom 3.19 ¢. Colorado was 19th in 2015 with 7.40 ¢ and is 18th now; a rise in the table. Colorado industrial prices rose in 5 of 9 years. The largest rise was +7.7% in 2022, and the largest fall -1.5% in 2023. The Colorado price peaked at 8.63 ¢ in 2022 and bottomed at 7.35 ¢ in 2016; 2024 is 0.1% below the peak and +17.3% from the low. Compounded, that is +1.71% a year in Colorado, -0.11 points against the U.S. Colorado buys 1.44% of all U.S. industrial electricity with 1.32% of the accounts, so the average Colorado account uses 1.09 times the national average.

A middle price: 8.62 ¢/kWh for Colorado industrial accounts, rank 18 of 51, +6.0% against the U.S. Colorado: +16.5% over nine years, or +1.7% a year, matching the national +17.7% by 1.2 points; 2022 was the biggest single move (+7.7%) and 2022 the high.

Last year's change in Colorado was +1.4% and still rising. Against the residential price of 14.92 ¢ the gap is 6.30 ¢. Industrial sales are 26.2% of Colorado electricity sold, and an average Colorado account used 84,135 kWh a month, an implied bill near $7,252.

Counting revenue instead of kWh, Colorado industrial accounts bring in 18.7% of Colorado sector revenue on 26.2% of the kWh, a discount of 7.5 points that comes from the price level: 8.62 ¢ here against 14.92 ¢ for residential and 11.71 ¢ for commercial accounts. The average Colorado industrial account uses 84,135 kWh a month, 31 of 51 among states on that measure; a residential account uses 0.01 times as much and a commercial account 0.05 times. Industrial accounts are 0.50% of the 2,978,175 accounts in Colorado.