Holy Cross Energy is introducing a rate increase starting April 1 to incentivize customers to stagger their electricity use.
Small residential and commercial customers — the vast majority of the electric co-op’s membership — will see a new demand charge on their bill: $1.00 per kilowatt, based on the highest 15-minute window of electricity usage during a month.
Therefore, someone who uses their washing machine, dishwasher, and electric stove at the same time will have a higher demand charge than someone who spreads their electricity use throughout the day.
Large residential and commercial customers already have the demand charge, which will increase slightly.
Jenna Weatherred, who oversees community relations for Holy Cross, expects the new charge to add $4 to $8 to her monthly bill, which is currently between $65 and $85.
“For some members, it's a high percentage,” Weatherred said. “But for no member is it a large dollar amount.”
The utility said in a press release that its annual expenses will increase 5% this year, due to a combination of rising building and maintenance costs for its grid and more expensive backup power sourced from regional utility Xcel Energy.
Holy Cross averaged 85% clean energy in 2025 and aims to reach 100% by 2030. This rate increase would be even higher without that shift, according to the utility.
Worldwide, renewable energy sources like solar and wind have become the cheapest sources of power.
“I know we have members who doubt me when I say this, but truly, this rate increase is not because of our energy cost,” Weatherred said. “We have to invest in our infrastructure to remain reliable and resilient, to remain safe, to be wildfire ready.”
Weatherred said the choice to introduce a demand charge rather than increase a customer’s existing energy charge serves a dual purpose.
First, the utility hopes it discourages customers from using all their appliances at once.
If they can lower their peak electricity needs, Weatherred said Holy Cross can avoid building more infrastructure.
“I'm not saying any of this is easy,” Weatherred said. “But if I could be a little bit more thoughtful, maybe put in a load of clothes before I go to work, maybe set the timer on my dishwasher to go off in the afternoon, charge my car in the middle of the night, spread those things out — Holy Cross doesn't have to build as much capacity.”
Second, the demand charge aims to address a cost imbalance between customers who have installed rooftop solar or other in-home renewable energy and those who haven’t.
Members with their own solar buy relatively little power from the utility, but Holy Cross still has to build out its infrastructure to supply those users when they need it.
“In effect, a majority of our membership was subsidizing those with the ability to make their own energy,” Weatherred said.
Weatherred said that despite the new fees, Holy Cross’ prices will still be within the bottom third of electricity rates in Colorado.
The utility’s goal of delivering 100% clean energy by 2030 is still in place, but Weatherred expects the utility to stay in the 80-85% range this year.
