For months we have been waiting. Candidates for office, community leaders, keen observers of Black Hills Energy —all have said: “Wait for the results of the feasibility study.” Contracted in the summer of 2018, the study is an expert analysis of the feasibility of establishing a Pueblo municipal electric utility to replace Black Hills Energy.

Well, the results are in. Here are the conclusions of EES Consulting Inc., in its words:

• This [municipal utility] operational plan is financially feasible. Retail rate savings in the range of 10 percent to 12 percent are forecast, based upon conservative input assumptions.

• The formation and operation of a municipal electric department is well-precedented nationally and can result in lower rates, more local economic development, less greenhouse gas emissions and more local control over key energy decisions.

• Operationally, the simplest and most appropriate BHE facilities to acquire are distribution equipment and substations in and around the city.

• All wholesale power and transmission needs should be provided via contractual agreements with qualified third parties.

EES has concluded that replacing Black Hills with a municipal electric utility will save us 10 percent to 12 percent in lower electric rates for 20 years. If your electric bill is $100 per month, you will save between $120 and $144 per year.

Perhaps even more important, decisions about rates will be made in Pueblo, not in South Dakota or Denver. The $115 million in annual Black Hills profit will no longer leave our community for the pockets of shareholders.

We can set state-of-the-art, fair and just rates. Customer service will happen in Pueblo. We will be free to implement renewable energy on our own schedule. And service reliability will not be compromised.

EES recommends that the city purchase only the electric distribution system — the poles and lines. We need not purchase the shiny new natural gas generators at the Pueblo Memorial Airport generating station, as it will be cheaper to purchase power on the open market. Federal regulations may require us to pay a “stranded assets” price to Black Hills for backing out of the long-term contracts to purchase power from the company, but even with a generous estimate for that cost, we’ll still have cheaper electricity.

The high cost of municipalization in Boulder fortunately has paved a much cheaper legal path for Pueblo. And the organizational structure is likely to be an “enterprise," like Pueblo Water.

Colorado statute allows Pueblo to serve electric customers outside of city boundaries, so the financial analysis evaluated the feasibility of three options for service areas: inside the city only, city of Pueblo plus additional customers near the city and all BHE Colorado electric customers, from Canon City to Rocky Ford. This latter option is more complicated, but spreads the same savings across the Black Hills territory.

EES also modeled the city’s commitment to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. Moving to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 saves us 12 percent to 15 percent annually for 20 years — actually more savings than the baseline scenario of 10 percent renewables. These modeling outcomes are driven strictly by the fact that renewable energy is now often the least cost option for power generation.

Black Hills can’t match this because its capital investments have almost all gone to natural gas, which we must now pay for over the next 28 years if we stay with BHE.

Black Hills did not provide company data legally and appropriately requested by the city for the study. The data came from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and primary research by the consultants. The foremost conclusion of the study is that a Phase II of the feasibility analysis needs to be conducted and we urge the City Council to move forward with that. It would delineate the exact steps in the process and outline the organizational structure of the new utility.

The feasibility study is excellent news for Puebloans who have suffered for years under the high rates and harsh policies of Black Hills. Sure, the company has made some changes in public relations in the past year, but the underlying problems are still the same. As the feasibility study graphically summarizes, Black Hills’ rates are not going to go down.

Now we can see that there is another path forward. What it takes from here is continued excellent expert advice and political will. Let’s get on board and bring the power home! It will open a big new door to our future.

David Cockrell, Ph.D., is a member of Pueblo’s Energy Future and conservation chair for the Colorado Sierra Club.