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• In 2008, Qwest Corporation, the largest landline telecommunications provider in Colorado, filed a request for a residential rate increase of 14.2 percent for its residential customers who purchase basic local exchange service as a stand-alone offering. (Qwest proposed to increase its rates by 16 percent for customers of its measured and message services.) In addition, Qwest sought to raise the maximum ceiling price, to increase on one day's notice in the future, by approximately 24 percent higher than current rates. Qwest estimated that these rate increases would generate an additional $14.9 million in revenues per year. Ultimately, the Public Utilities Commission granted Qwest an increase of 11.02% reflecting $16.52 for basic local service for year one and a ceiling price of $17 for year two. After the Commission denied the OCC's request for reconsideration, the OCC appealed the final decision to the Denver District Court. The hearing is scheduled for the fall of 2010 after the OCC an dthe Commission have filed briefs in support of their positions. Reference docket number 08A-403T

• Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), the largest electric utility in the state, requested an increase of nearly $175 million to its electric rates on May 1, 2009. If adopted, that proposal would have had a significant impact on the estimated 1.1 million residential and 151,000 commercial/industrial customers, which includes 200,000 low-income customers. After the OCC filed a protest and request for hearing, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) suspended the filing. PSCo and Staff of the PUC reached a settlement agreement, to which the OCC was not a party, which would have raised rates by $136 million. A hearing was held on the settlement and the Commission lowered the increase, based in part on the OCC's advocacy, to $128.3 million. In the rate design phase of the case, the PUC adopted a two-tiered inverted block rate structure for the months of June through September that was supported by the OCC and PSCo. The lower rate is capped at 500 kWh. The higher rate is set at 9¢ per kWh. Reference docket number 09AL-299E

• In October 2008, Black Hills filed its application for an order approving its 2009 Compliance Plan. The OCC intervened in the docket and entered into a settlement agreement with Black Hills and PUC Commission Staff in March 2009. As a result of the stipulation, Black Hills agreed to bank its renewable energy credits (REC) by type and source and to follow a process substantially the same as the process used for acquiring S-RECs for 2007 and 2008 where such S-RECs were acquired on the open market from providers of Green-E certified RECs. This banking strategy is estimated to have saved Black Hills customers $166,122 for the 2009 Compliance Year. Reference docket number 08A-470E
  
  
• The OCC intervened in PSCo's filing of its 2007 Resource Plan with the PUC. Hearings were held in 2008 and the Commission issued several orders, the last of which approved PSCo's plan to purchase two existing plants. The Commission affirmed the company's decision not to submit a bid to build its own natural gas plant, rejecting the position of the OCC that consideration of such a plant was in the public interest. After the PUC denied a request for reconsideration, the OCC appealed that decision to the Denver District Court in March 2010. The Court will set up a procedural schedule to hear the OCC's appeal. Reference docket number 07A-447E