Committee advances bill letting municipal utilities keep unclaimed deposits for local utility-assistance programs

Senate Bill 68 would clarify how unclaimed utility deposits are handled when the utility is municipally owned, allowing municipal utilities to retain unclaimed deposits for locally run low-income utility assistance programs while leaving existing statewide channels open.

Representative Pasco, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee the measure aligns state law with Colorado’s constitution and current practice, arguing municipal utilities should be able to direct unclaimed deposits to local assistance programs. “It is an opportunity to get aligned constitutionally and to promote local control,” Pasco said.

Why it matters: The bill responds to a recent practice by Colorado Springs Utilities of directing unclaimed customer deposits to Project COPE, the utility’s local low-income assistance program. Project COPE provides direct bill support and is funded by customer and community donations; Colorado Springs Utilities also matches donations and covers administrative costs. April Conway, Community Relations Supervisor at Colorado Springs Utilities, said, “Last year… we provided over $1,700,000 in assistance to over 2,400 local families.”

Supporters, including municipal utilities’ trade group, said the change removes a statutory ambiguity that could conflict with home-rule and municipal-authority provisions of the Colorado Constitution. Daniel Hodges, executive director of the Colorado Association of Municipal Utilities, told the committee that constitutional provisions and case law protect municipalities’ authority over their utilities and that the amendment would harmonize state statute with those protections: “When it comes to providing utility services, it is a municipal function when done by a municipal utility.”

The amendment adopted by the committee clarified that the unclaimed utility account provisions do not apply to municipal utilities and reiterated that municipal utilities may voluntarily contribute unclaimed deposits to Energy Outreach Colorado (EOC) or to a municipally run program. Representative Pasco said the change “does still allow unclaimed account deposits to go to LEAP [the Low-income Energy Assistance Program] so it doesn't affect that program.”

Committee action: The committee adopted Amendment L001 without objection. Representative Pasco moved the bill as amended to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; the committee vote was recorded as unanimous in favor.

What the bill does not do: The legislation does not require municipal utilities to keep unclaimed funds locally — it allows them to retain funds for local assistance programs or to send them to the statewide program — and it does not change eligibility rules for LEAP or other assistance programs.

Next steps: With committee approval the bill will go to the Committee of the Whole for further consideration and potential floor action.