Utility makes one-time cut in April rates but still owes ratepayers $45 million.

Black Hills Energy electric customers will see a one-time rebate in April bills because of the cut in the federal corporate tax rate from 31 to 25 percent.

As required by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, the utility is returning an initial $6.1 million in taxes to ratepayers in April bills.

The actual refund would vary from customer to customer, but the utility estimated that an average residential customer will see a $16.79 reduction in their April bill. Small businesses will see a $34.38 cut and large commercial businesses a $32,229 reduction.

Last year, the PUC ordered Black Hills to develop a plan for refunding the millions of dollars it was getting from lower federal corporate tax rates.

April's one-time cut was part of a PUC refund plan, though the new federal tax schedule also lets Black Hills defer or delay the repayment of $45 million it owes to Pueblo ratepayers. That repayment plan could take 40 years.

That $45 million is a portion of the taxes collected from Pueblo ratepayers since Black Hills took over as the city's utility in 2009. While Black Hills charged ratepayers for its federal taxes, it was allowed to "defer" paying those taxes on to the federal government.

When the Trump administration authored and Congress approved new tax rates in 2017, it required corporations to pay at least 50 percent of past owed taxes in exchange for the lower 21 percent tax rate going forward.

In Black Hills' case, that meant the utility owes local ratepayers a $45 million refund from those deferred taxes, though the new tax law also lets the utility stretch that refund over 40 years.

Black Hills hasn't announced how it intends to refund that money to ratepayers.

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