The Straight Answer: No, You Can't Choose Your Provider
No — you cannot choose your electricity provider in Colorado. This is a regulated electricity market: one utility holds the exclusive right to serve your address, and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approves what it can charge. Most of the Front Range and Denver metro is served by Xcel Energy; other parts of the state are served by municipal utilities or rural electric cooperatives. Whichever one covers your address, there's no second option next door and no supplier list to shop.
If that sounds like a gap compared to a state where you can pick a supplier, it isn't one in practice — deregulated markets swap "no choice" for "confusing choice," and the research on those markets (see our electrical guide for how wiring and panel issues play out state to state) shows most residential shoppers there don't come out ahead either. In a regulated state like Colorado, the honest homeowner question isn't "which supplier is cheapest" — it's "what actually lowers my usage and my bill." That's the rest of this page.
What Power Costs in Colorado
Colorado households paid an average of 15.8¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2025, per preliminary US Energy Information Administration data. The chart below shows the historical trend behind that number.
Full Colorado electricity price data (1990–2025)
| Year | Colorado (¢/kWh) | US avg (¢/kWh) |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 7.0 | 7.8 |
| 1991 | 7.1 | 8.0 |
| 1992 | 7.2 | 8.2 |
| 1993 | 7.2 | 8.3 |
| 1994 | 7.4 | 8.4 |
| 1995 | 7.4 | 8.4 |
| 1996 | 7.5 | 8.4 |
| 1997 | 7.4 | 8.4 |
| 1998 | 7.5 | 8.3 |
| 1999 | 7.4 | 8.2 |
| 2000 | 7.3 | 8.2 |
| 2001 | 7.5 | 8.6 |
| 2002 | 7.4 | 8.4 |
| 2003 | 8.1 | 8.7 |
| 2004 | 8.4 | 9.0 |
| 2005 | 9.1 | 9.5 |
| 2006 | 9.0 | 10.4 |
| 2007 | 9.3 | 10.7 |
| 2008 | 10.1 | 11.3 |
| 2009 | 10.0 | 11.5 |
| 2010 | 11.0 | 11.5 |
| 2011 | 11.3 | 11.7 |
| 2012 | 11.5 | 11.9 |
| 2013 | 11.9 | 12.1 |
| 2014 | 12.2 | 12.5 |
| 2015 | 12.1 | 12.7 |
| 2016 | 12.1 | 12.6 |
| 2017 | 12.2 | 12.9 |
| 2018 | 12.2 | 12.9 |
| 2019 | 12.2 | 13.0 |
| 2020 | 12.4 | 13.2 |
| 2021 | 13.1 | 13.7 |
| 2022 | 14.2 | 15.0 |
| 2023 | 14.3 | 16.0 |
| 2024 | 14.9 | 16.5 |
| 2025 * | 15.9 | 17.3 |
Source: US EIA, average residential retail electricity price. Values in cents per kWh. * 2025 is preliminary.
That 15.8¢ rate is up about 75 percent since 2005, and over the last decade the climb has held to roughly 2.7 percent a year. That's not a spike — it's a steady, compounding grind, the kind that turns a manageable bill into a much bigger one over ten or fifteen years if nothing on the usage side changes. The practical takeaway is to treat electricity like a cost that reliably gets a little more expensive every year, and to weight decisions — insulation, appliance replacement, solar — using that trajectory, not just this month's bill.
Why Your Rate Is Set This Way
Colorado's utilities are regulated monopolies: in exchange for the exclusive right to serve a territory, they submit to PUC oversight of what they can charge. Rates are set through a rate case, not a market — the utility files its costs and the PUC approves (or trims) what gets passed to customers, usually after a public comment period where residential and commercial customer groups can weigh in. That process is slower than a competitive market, but it's also the reason a Colorado bill doesn't move on a supplier's marketing budget or a teaser-rate expiration the way a bill in a deregulated state can.
Three cost drivers show up in Colorado rate cases more than most: the fuel mix (a mix of natural gas, coal being phased down, and a fast-growing share of wind and solar generation), grid modernization spending, and wildfire mitigation — line hardening, vegetation management, and shutoff protocols that Western utilities have had to invest in as fire risk has climbed. None of that is something a homeowner can negotiate around; it's baked into the approved rate everyone in a territory pays, whether you use a little power or a lot.
How to Actually Lower the Bill
With no supplier to shop, every dollar of savings in Colorado comes from usage or from generating your own power. That's actually a simpler set of choices than a deregulated state hands you — no offers to compare, no contract terms to track, no renewal date to calendar. In order of effort:
- Efficiency first. Attic and duct insulation, air sealing, and an HVAC tune-up or upgrade address the single biggest usage swing in most Colorado homes — heating through cold, dry winters and cooling through hot Front Range summers. See our HVAC guide for what a tune-up should cover.
- Ask about time-of-use rates. Some Colorado utilities, including Xcel Energy, offer optional time-of-use pricing that charges less for power used off-peak. It's opt-in — you have to call and ask to be moved onto it — and it only pays off if you can shift some usage (laundry, EV charging, dishwashing) to off-peak hours.
- Ask about budget billing. Most utilities offer a levelized billing plan that averages your annual usage into a flat monthly payment, so a January heating spike doesn't hit as a shock. It doesn't lower the total you pay for the year, but it smooths the cash-flow problem that catches a lot of households off guard.
- Weigh rooftop solar against the 15.8¢ baseline. Solar economics are a direct function of your utility's rate — the higher the rate you're offsetting, the faster the payback. At 15.8¢ per kWh, Colorado sits above the national average, and the state's high altitude and sun exposure are genuinely favorable for panel output. Whether it pencils out for your specific roof depends on your usage, your utility's net-metering terms, and the quote itself — run the numbers in our solar panels guide before signing anything.
Practical Checklist
- Confirm your utility — Xcel Energy, a municipal utility, or a rural co-op — from your bill, not a search result.
- Call and ask about time-of-use and budget billing. Neither is automatic; both require you to opt in.
- Schedule an HVAC tune-up before the next heating or cooling season, and check attic insulation depth.
- Get a solar quote only if your roof has strong, unobstructed sun exposure, and run the payback math against your actual usage and the 15.8¢ rate — not a salesperson's estimate.
- Ignore any unsolicited "switch providers" pitch. Colorado is regulated; there is nothing to switch.
Sources
Figures on this page are 2026-current and come from primary sources. Average residential rate (15.8¢ per kWh, 2025 preliminary), the 75 percent increase since 2005, and the roughly 2.7 percent annual pace over the last decade, along with the historical series in the chart: US EIA, Electric Power Monthly. Market structure and rate-setting process: Colorado Public Utilities Commission. We review these figures every six months.