On November 15, 2021, Black Hills Energy filed amended tariffs at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.  The filing was assigned Proceeding No. 21AL-0540E.  The filing amends the CSG Fixed Bill Credits for customers subscribing to Community Solar Gardens effective on January 1, 2022.  The amended CSG Fixed Bill Credits are shown below.  

• Advice Letter No. 814
• Appendix A - Tariff Sheet 94I
• Appendix C - Calculation
• Attachment 1 - Customer Notice
• Motion for Alternative Form of Notice

You may contact Black Hills Energy at BHESolar@blackhillscorp.com with questions or call 888-890-5554.

What you need to know about the annual Transmission Cost Adjustment (TCA)

On November 1, 2021, Black Hills Energy filed its annual Transmission Cost Adjustment (“TCA”). The TCA is a monthly surcharge on all customers’ bills to pay for the costs of maintaining and improving the high-voltage transmission system that ensures the safe, reliable delivery of energy across our southern Colorado service territory.

The TCA is updated on an annual basis to allow Black Hills to recover construction costs incurred the previous year for projects related to our transmission towers and structures, high-voltage transmission lines, and substations – critical infrastructure necessary for carrying high-voltage electricity quickly and efficiently to the lower voltage distribution system that serves homes and businesses.

The 2022 TCA rate will be $0.005072 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Based on this rate, the average residential customer monthly bill would see an increase of 89 cents, going from $104.78 per month to $105.67 per month. The average small commercial customer monthly bill would see an increase of $3.42, from $341.48 per month to $344.90 per month. The 2022 TCA rate will be in effect from Jan. 1, 2022 through Dec. 31, 2022.

• AL 813 – 2021 TCA
• Appendix A- Tariff Sheet 101
• Appendix B - Redlined Tariff Sheet 101
• Appendix C - 2021 TCA Calculation
• TCA Motion for Alt Form of Notice
• Attachment 1- TCA Placeholder Customer Notice

Black Hills Energy has filed to adjust its ECA rate on October 1, 2021 pending approval by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in Proceeding No. 21AL-0406E. The new rate will increase to $0.04072 per kWh. The current rate is $0.03854 per kWh. The new rate will increase Company revenues (annualized basis) by approximately $3.3 million. The new rate will increase a typical residential bill by $1.37 or 1.33%. The new rate will increase a typical small commercial bill by $5.25 or 1.56%. 

You may view the filing documents here:

• Advice Letter No. 810
• Appendix A - Tariff Sheet 65
• Appendix B - Redlined Tariff Sheet 65
• Appendix C - ECA Calculation
• Motion for Alt. Form of Notice
• Attachment 1 - Customer Notice

Black Hills Energy has filed tariffs with the Colo. Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) to bill the new Energy Assistance System Benefit Charge (“EASBC”) on October 1, 2021.  PUC assigned Proceeding No. 21AL-0400E to the Company’s filing.  EASBC was mandated in Colo. House Bill 1105 (2021).  EASBC supports low-income assistance and is administered by Energy Outreach Colorado (“EOC”).  Customers may contact EOC at 1-866-HEAT-HELP to qualify for the low-income assistance.  Customers may opt out of EASBC by contacting Black Hills Energy at email address eaoptout@blackhillscorp.com.  Customers who have received low-income assistance in the previous twelve months will be automatically exempted from EASBC billings for the succeeding twelve months. 

You may view the PUC filing documents here:

• Advice Letter No. 809
• Appendix A - Tariff Sheets
• Appendix B - Redlined Tariff Sheets
• Attachment 1 - Customer Notice
• Motion for Alternative Form of Notice

PUBLIC COMMENT HEARING FOR BLACK HILLS COLORADO ELECTRIC, LLC ON FEBRUARY COLD WEATHER EVENT.

The Public Utilities Commission is conducting a virtual public hearing open to customers on September 21, 2021, regarding Black Hills Energy’s costs incurred during the February 2021 extreme weather event. For more information, see https://puc.colorado.gov/puccalendar

Attachment 1 - BH Electric Customer Notice

Hearing Exhibit 100, BH Electric Verified Application

Hearing Exhibit 101,  Attachment MJH-1 - February Event Cost

Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-2 - Amortization and Bill Impacts (1)

Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-3 - Pro forma Tariffs (1)

Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-4 - Securitization Analysis

Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-6 - Customer Communication Examples (1)

Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-6 - Customer Communication Examples (2)

Hearing Exhibit 101, Direct Testimony of Michael J. Harrington (2)

Hearing Exhibit 102,  Attachment DES-1 - Pueblo Historical DA Temp Forecasts

Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment DES-2- BHCOE Load Forecasts and Actuals

Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment DES-3 - Summary Day Ahead and Actual Pricing

Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment DES-4 - Load and Resource Stack

Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment DES-5 - February 11 Energy Sales

Hearing Exhibit 102, Direct Testimony of Donald Stahl

Hearing Exhibit 103,  Attachment KJK-3 - Market Sale

Hearing Exhibit 103, Direct Testimony of Kent J. Kopetzky

On May 8, 2020, we filed an application at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for the approval of our first Transportation Electrification Plan, or TEP. This was our first TEP required by Colorado Senate Bill 19-077, and if approved, will be effective for three years until the end of 2024. 

We designed our TEP to encourage transportation electrification while minimizing costs and giving our customers the power to shape what the electric vehicle industry in southern Colorado. The TEP consists of 4 major parts: 1) customer education and outreach, 2) rebates on EV charging equipment, 3) new rates for EV charging, and 4) classifying EV charging equipment as permanent load for the purposes of line extensions. To avoid customer confusion with a new line on customer bills, we have proposed to streamline the cost-recovery of the TEP by combining it with our Demand Side Management Cost Adjustment.  We estimate that an average residential customer will see their monthly bill increase approximately 0.24%, or $0.19 in 2022, $0.21 in 2023, and $0.24 in 2024. We estimate that an average Small General Service customer will see their monthly bill increase 0.24%, or $0.71 in 2022, $0.77 in 2023, and $0.87 in 2024.

• BHE Verified Application - EV
• Direct Testimony of Michael J. Harrington
• Direct Testimony of T. Aaron Carr
• Direct Testimony of Michael R Grubert
• Direct Testimony of Theresa I. Donnelly
• Direct Testimony of P Grant Gervais

On November 26th, 2019, Busch Ranch II Wind Project achieved an official commercial operation. Per Rule 3613(j) of the Commission’s Rules, please see below for the now public documents filed in Proceeding No. 16A-0436E that were previously filed as Highly Confidential.

• EPA 2018 Executed
• Re-filed Appendix A 30-day report bid summary
• Re-filed Appendix B 30-day report standalone REC RFP summary
• Re-filed Appendix D EER RFP bid summary
• Re-filed Appendix G standalone REC RFP summary
• Re-filed Appendix K Henry Hub gas price forecasts
• Re-filed Appendix M Black Hills La Cumbre Energy Results Comparison
• Re-filed Appendix M Black Hills Busch Ranch II Comparison Memo
• Re-filed Appendix M LaCumbre CDR
• Re-filed Appendix N 2016 ERP RES APP
• Re-filed Attachment 1 - Accion Consulting Agreement
• Re-filed Appendix P Bid employment metrics
• Re-filed Appendix M Black Hills Busch Ranch II V120-59.4MW-80m
• Re-filed Appendix M Busch Ranch II - CDR
• Re-filed Appendix M LaCumbre Net Analysis
• Re-filed Appendix M Black Hills La Cumbre 59.6MW-GE2.5-127-88.6m and GE2.3-116-80m
• Re-filed Appendix M Busch Ranch II Net Analysis

On November 6, 2020, we filed Advice Letter 793 at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for new ATO Dual Feeder Service. If approved, the service becomes effective December 8, 2020. ATO Dual Feeder Service is available to non-residential, demand-metered customers who need service from an alternate substation in case of interruption at the primary substation source. Customers are responsible for equipment and installation costs of an Automated Throw Over (“ATO”) device, for line extension or dedicated feeder costs as necessary, and for a Monthly Reserved Capacity Charge at rates specified in the tariff.

You may view the filed documents here:

• Appendix A - Tariff Sheets
• Appendix B - Redlined Tariff Sheets
• Appendix C - Rate Calculations 
• Motion for Alternative Forms of Notice
• Advice Letter No 793
• Attachement 1 - Customer Notice

On November 17, 2020, Black Hills Energy filed amended tariffs at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The filing was assigned Proceeding No. 20AL-0513E. The filing amends the CSG Fixed Bill Credits for customers subscribing to Community Solar Gardens effective on January 1, 2021. The amended CSG Fixed Bill Credits comply with new Commission rules adopted in Decision No C20-0628. Specifically, the new Commission rules require that the Demand Side Management Cost Adjustment (“DSMCA”) be deducted from the CSG Fixed Bill Credits calculation. As a result, CSG Fixed Bill Credits are generally lower than in the previous annual period as shown in the table below:

You may view the filing documents here. You may contact Black Hills Energy at 888-890-5554 or 719-546-5885 with questions.

• Advice Letter No 796
• Appendix A - Tariff Sheet 94I
• Appendix B - Redlined Tariff Sheet 94I
• Appendix C - Calculations
• Motion for Alternative Form of Notice
• Attachment 1 - Customer Notice

On November 15, 2021, Black Hills Colorado Electric filed Advice Letter No. 815 at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

The principal purpose of this annual filing is to amend the Company’s PCCA tariff sheets to reflect the incremental purchased capacity-related costs. The PCCA recovers the incremental cost of purchased capacity above the level of purchased capacity costs included in base rates. This PCCA filing represents the incremental purchased capacity costs for the period January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2021. The proposed PCCA rate is $0.00145/kWh for Residential and Energy Only Customers, $0.00130/kWh for Small General Service customers, $0.36983/kW for Large General Service customers, and $0.44670/kW for Large Power Service customers.

If permitted to go into effect on January 1, 2021, the tariff revisions will result in increased annualized revenues of approximately $460,792, as compared to the 2021 PCCA rates that are currently in effect. Based on the proposed PCCA rates, the average residential customer monthly bill, under Rate Schedule RS-1 with an average usage of 600 kWh per month, will increase $0.23, from $104.78 to $105.01, or 0.22%. The average small commercial customer monthly bill, under Rate Schedule SGS-N with an average usage of 2,300 kWh per month, will increase $0.72, from $341.48 to $342.21, or 0.21%.

Attachment 1 - Placeholder Customer Notice

Appendix A - Tariff Sheet Nos. 85-86

Appendix B - Redlined Tariff Sheet Nos. 85-86

Appendix C - PCCA Calculation

PCCA Advice Letter No. 815

PCCA Motion for Alt Form of Notice

On November 1, 2021, the Company filed an advice letter with the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Colorado proposing a change to the Company’s SSIR rates. The proposed change to SSIR rates will recover forecasted costs resulting from safety and integrity projects that will be placed in-service in 2022. The proposed SSIR tariff will affect all retail and transportation customers in Base Rate Area 2 and Base Rate Area 3 if the Commission allows the tariff to become effective. If approved, the amendments will become effective January 1, 2022. The Commission has opened Proceeding No. 21AL-0519G for the Company’s filing. The filing documents are below for your viewing. Estimated customer bill impacts can be found on “Advice Letter No. 13”. 

Advice Letter No. 13

Attachment A - Clean Tariffs

Attachment B - Redlined Tariffs

Attachment C - BHCG 2022 SSIR 5 Year Plan

Attachment C.1 - 5-Year SSIR Plan and Summary 2022

Attachment C.2 - 2022 SSIR Capital Expenditures - Qtrly  Forecast

Attachment D - 2022 BHCG SSIR Revenue Requirement

Black Hills Energy Customer Notice

• BHCG Advice Letter No. 9
• BHCG Customer Notice
• BHCG Tariffs

On October 15, 2021, the Company filed a request with the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Colorado that reflects a proposed change to the Company’s GCA rate. The proposed amendment reflects updates to the forecasted gas commodity and upstream demand costs for the period November 1, 2021 – October 31, 2022, in addition to the deferred GCA costs as of June 30, 2021. The proposed GCA tariff will affect all retail customers if the Commission allows the tariff to become effective. If approved, the amendments will become effective November 1, 2021. The Commission has opened Proceeding No. 21L-0491G for the Company’s filing. The filing documents are below for your viewing. Estimated customer bill impacts can be found on “GCA Attachment No. 7” in the “BHCG GCA Public Attachments 1-13” document below.

• BHCG Annual GCA App - 2021-11-01 (PDF)
• BHCG GCA Attachments 2021-11-01 (PDF)
• Verification (PDF)

Black Hills Energy has filed tariffs with the Colo. Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) to bill the new Energy Assistance System Benefit Charge (“EASBC”) on October 1, 2021. PUC assigned Proceeding No. 21AL-0404G to the Company’s filing. The EASBC was mandated in Colo. House Bill 1105 (2021). The EASBC supports low-income assistance and is administered by Energy Outreach Colorado (“EOC”). Customers may contact EOC at 1-866-HEAT-HELP to qualify for the low-income assistance. Customers may opt out of EASBC by contacting Black Hills Energy at email address eaoptout@blackhillscorp.com. Customers who have received low-income assistance in the previous twelve months will be automatically exempted from EASBC billings for the succeeding twelve months. 

You may view the PUC filing documents here:

• Appendix A - Clean Tariffs
• Appendix B - Redlined Tariffs
• Attachment 1 - BHCG Customer Notice
• BHCG Advice Letter No. 10
• BHCG Motion for Alt Form of Notice

• BHCG Customer Notice
• BHCG Tariffs Clean
• BHCG Advice Letter No. 9

• Appendix 1-9
• Appendix 10 - Redline and Clean Tariffs
• Appendix 11 - BH Colorado Gas Customer Notice
• BH Colorado Gas Advice Letter 8
• BHCG Motion for Alt Form of Notice

• Advice Letter 8
• Appendix 1-9
• Appendix 10 - Redline and Clean Tariffs
• Appendix 11 - BH Colorado Gas Customer Notice

PUBLIC COMMENT HEARING FOR BLACK HILLS COLORADO GAS, INC ON FEBRUARY COLD WEATHER EVENT.

The Public Utilities Commission is conducting a virtual public hearing open to customers on September 22, 2021, regarding Black Hills Energy’s costs incurred during the February 2021 extreme weather event. For more information, see https://puc.colorado.gov/puccalendar
 

• Attachment 1 - BH gas customer notice
• Hearing Exhibit 100, BH Gas Verified Application
• Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-1 - February Event Cost
• Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-2 - Amortization and Bill Impacts
• Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-3 - Pro Forma Tariffs
• Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-4 - Securitization Estimates
• Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-5 - Customer Communication Spreadsheet
• Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-6 - Customer Communication Examples
• Hearing Exhibit 101, Attachment MJH-7 - Existing GCA
• Hearing Exhibit 101, Direct Testimony of Michael J. Harrington
• Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment JDB-1 - BHCG GPP Filing 2020-2021
• Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment JDB-3 - DSC Models
• Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment JDB-4 - February Event Gas Summaries
• Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment JDB-5 - Detailed Summary of Transactions
• Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment JDB-6 - Non-Ratable Supply Cost Savings
• Hearing Exhibit 102, Attachment JDB-7 - MDWQ and Imbalance Charges
• Hearing Exhibit 102, Direct Testimony of Jay D. Bauer

On October 15, 2020, the Company filed a request with the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Colorado that reflects a proposed change to the Company’s GCA rate. The proposed amendment reflects updates to the forecasted gas commodity and upstream demand costs for the period November 1, 2020 – October 31, 2021, in addition to the deferred GCA costs for the 12-month period ending June 3, 2020. The proposed GCA tariff will affect all retail customers if the Commission allows the tariff to become effective. If approved, the amendments will become effective November 1, 200. The Commission has opened Proceeding No. 20L-0428G for the Company’s filing. The filing documents are below for your viewing. Estimated customer bill impacts can be found on “GCA Attachment No. 7 – Customer Notice” in the “Public BHCG GCA Attachments 2020-11-01” document below. 

• BHCG Annual GCA App - 2020-11-01 (PDF)
• BHCG GCA Attachments 2020-11-01 (PDF)
• Verification (PDF)

• AL 124 - RMNG SSIR
• Attachment A - Clean Tariffs
• Attachment B - Redline Tariffs
• Attachment C - Revenue Requirement Calculation 
• Attachment D - EBB 2022 SSIR Notice

• Advice Letter 123 - RMNG RAM
• Attachment A - Clean Tariffs
• Attachment B - Redline Tariffs
• Attachment C - 2021 RAM Rate Calculation
• Attachment D - EBB 2021 RAM Notice