Electricity rates — Colorado

What a typical bill costs

At 1,000 kWh a month the 5 priceable plans here run from $956.00 on Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR) to $2,059.88 on Residential General Service Opt-Out (Schedule R-OO), with a median of $1,941.02.

The spread is $1,103.88 a year — about $91.99 a month for identical electricity.

Effective rates, bill divided by kilowatt-hours, span 8.0¢ to 17.2¢ per kWh at that usage.

How the answer changes with usage

Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR) is cheapest at every level tested — $511.56 a year at 500 kWh a month, $1,844.77 at 2,000 kWh.

The penalty for a poor choice grows with usage: $567.48 a year at 500 kWh against $2,176.71 at 2,000 kWh.

Cheapest 5 plans at 1,000 kWh a month

Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR) — $956.00 a year, 8.0¢ per kWh effective, demand-charged. It carries a $5.60 monthly standing charge.

Residential Demand Service (Schedule RD) — $1,352.67 a year, 11.3¢ per kWh effective, demand-charged. It carries a $15.83 monthly standing charge.

Residential Energy Time Of Use (Schedule RE-TOU) — $1,941.02 a year, 16.2¢ per kWh effective, time-of-use. It carries a $8.19 monthly standing charge.

Residential Service (Schedule R) — $2,035.24 a year, 17.0¢ per kWh effective, time-of-use. It carries a $8.19 monthly standing charge.

Residential General Service Opt-Out (Schedule R-OO) — $2,059.88 a year, 17.2¢ per kWh effective, time-of-use. It carries a $8.19 monthly standing charge.

How these plans are structured

Of 5 priceable plans: 3 time-of-use, 2 with demand charges.

Fixed monthly charges run from $5.60 to $15.83.

Who provides these plans

Every plan here comes from Public Service Co of Colorado — a limit of what has been indexed, not a claim that it is the only provider in Colorado.

The largest saving available here

Moving from Residential General Service Opt-Out (Schedule R-OO) to Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR) saves $1,103.88 a year at 1,000 kWh a month, with no change in consumption.

What this does not cover

Only one utility in Colorado has been indexed so far, so the ranges above are not statewide. A household served by another provider will not find its plans here yet.

3 of these plans price by hour. WattClear does not know which hours a household uses, so those estimates carry lower confidence and say so on the figure.