Black Hills Energy is asking a Denver district court to consider forcing Commissioner Frances Koncilja off any review of the utility's 2016 rate request by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

The utility is appealing the PUC's 2-1 vote on March 1, where Chairman Jeff Ackermann sided with Koncilja in rejecting Black Hills' claim that Koncilja had shown a deep-rooted bias against the company when the PUC made deep cuts in its 2016 request for an additional $8.5 million a year in revenue.

The utility argued then -- and in its May 8 filing in Denver -- that Koncilja's caustic criticisms of the utility and its rate increases violated state rules that require commissioners to be unbiased in making decisions.

While the utility wants the Denver court to review Koncilja's actions, it is also asking the court to delay that process until the PUC has reconsidered the utility's 2016 rate request.

The review of the rate case is pending before the PUC; it could be considered as early as June.

Last November, the PUC -- then made up of Koncilja and Commissioners Joshua Epel and Glenn Vaad -- sharply reduced the utility's revenue request to about $1 million a year.

That was much less than Black Hills said it needed to pay the expenses of purchasing a $61 million "peak power" turbine for its Pueblo Area Generating Station.

In that decision meeting, Koncilja made repeated sharp comments about Black Hills, saying it was plundering its ratepayers and even criticizing earlier PUC decisions on those rates.

Epel and Vaad both stepped down from the PUC in January. Gov. John Hickenlooper then appointed Ackermann and Wendy Moser, a former Black Hills lawyer, to the commission.

Soon after, Black Hills filed a motion asking Koncilja to disqualify herself from further action in the rate request, quoting her many criticisms of the company.

Koncilja rejected that request, leading up to the March 1 vote where Moser voted to disqualify Koncilja.

But that was just the opening round of a crossfire of demands for recusal.

Only a week ago, Ackermann cast another deciding vote and turned away Pueblo County's demand that Moser be disqualified from the rate case because she was a senior Black Hills lawyer from 2011-14.

In that case, it was Koncilja who argued against Moser's participation, saying her earlier work for Black Hills had to create a conflict when it came to reviewing the 2016 rate request.

Ackermann disagreed.

Like Black Hills, Pueblo County could appeal that decision to district court.

In its Denver district court filing, Black Hills argues that Ackermann and Koncilja ignored rules of commissioner conduct in giving Koncilja broad leeway in her comments, claiming she was in pursuit of the "public interest."

"No case law was provided in support of such a sweeping proposition," the filing notes.

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