Fort Collins Utilities Wins National Excellence Award for Clean Energy Innovation

Fort Collins Utilities received national recognition October 27 for its innovative approach to managing electricity demand through smart technology and time-based rates, demonstrating how strategic investments can advance clean energy goals while extending the life of aging infrastructure.

Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm, presented the Excellence in Resourcefulness Award in the energy category to Fort Collins Utilities during the Itron Inspire 2025 conference in San Antonio. The award recognizes utilities that achieve significant resource conservation through technology-driven programs.

The recognition focuses on Fort Collins' deployment of distributed energy resource management systems that aggregate customer-owned devices such as smart thermostats and grid-interactive water heaters, enabling the utility to shift electricity demand in real time away from peak hours.

Fort Collins Utilities serves approximately 70,000 residential customers and operates as a municipal utility pursuing ambitious climate targets including carbon neutrality by 2050 and 100% renewable electricity by 2030. The city adopted these goals through its Our Climate Future plan, which builds on climate action commitments dating to 2015.

Time-of-Use Rates Drive Load Shifting

Fort Collins transitioned all residential customers to time-of-use electricity rates in October 2018, among the earliest full-scale adoptions in Colorado. The rate structure charges 21.7 cents per kilowatt-hour during weekday peak hours from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., compared to 7.3 cents per kilowatt-hour during all other times.

The price differential encourages customers to shift energy-intensive activities such as running dishwashers, charging electric vehicles or heating water to off-peak periods. Customers who adjust their usage patterns typically save $10 to $25 annually compared to previous flat-rate billing, while those making no changes may see small increases of 5 to 10 percent.

The utility has successfully shifted approximately 750 megawatt-hours of energy annually since the program launched, according to Frost & Sullivan's award announcement. Fort Collins Utilities aims to achieve 16 megawatts of dispatchable capacity by 2030, representing approximately 5 percent of projected peak load.

"Since the program's launch, the utility has successfully shifted around 750 MWh of energy annually," stated Farah Saeed, industry director for energy and environment at Frost & Sullivan. "It also uses a 'cost of conserved energy' metric to assess success, justifying investments by showing that the cost of these initiatives is much lower than the cost of purchasing energy from the power supplier."

Technology Coordinates Customer Devices

The distributed energy resource management system works by coordinating internet-connected devices on the customer side of the meter to respond automatically to grid conditions. When electricity demand spikes or renewable energy generation drops, the system can temporarily adjust participating thermostats by a few degrees or delay water heater cycles without significantly affecting customer comfort.

Fort Collins has collaborated with technology provider Itron since the initial deployment to refine functionalities including OpenADR support and advanced telematic communications for electric vehicles. The system integrates with the utility's time-of-use rate structure to maximize cost savings for participating customers while smoothing overall demand on the distribution system.

The utility's cost of conserving energy through these programs runs approximately 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, substantially below the 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour cost of purchasing power from wholesale supplier Platte River Power Authority, according to the award announcement.

Infrastructure Benefits Beyond Energy Savings

The demand management strategy extends the operational life of capital assets including service transformers and distribution conductors by reducing peak load stress. Many of Fort Collins Utilities' critical assets are 25 to 45 years old and approaching planned service life, with asset management reports identifying several hundred residential neighborhood transformers and feeder conductors due for renewal within the next decade.

Transformers and conductors experience accelerated thermal aging during peak usage periods. High peak loads can reduce transformer lifespan from 40 years to 25 years or less. By keeping equipment within safe thermal limits through demand management, the utility can extend asset life by 10 to 15 years, deferring or avoiding expensive replacements.

Fort Collins Utilities estimates that demand-side management could defer $12 million to $20 million in capital replacements over the next decade by flattening peak load profiles. Individual distribution transformer replacements cost $6,000 to $12,000 per unit installed, making avoided replacements a significant source of savings.

Regional Clean Energy Context

Fort Collins Utilities operates as part of the Platte River Power Authority system, which also serves Loveland, Longmont and Estes Park. Platte River has established a target of 100% non-carbon electricity by 2030, providing the wholesale power foundation for municipal goals.

Fort Collins' 2030 and 2050 targets exceed base requirements for municipal utilities under Colorado law and align with state directives for decarbonizing electricity 80 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050 where feasible. The city adopted its first climate targets in 1999 and set aggressive new benchmarks in its 2015 Climate Action Plan.

Boulder operates its own municipal electric utility with community-wide carbon neutrality targeted by 2035 and 100% renewable electricity for municipal operations achieved in 2020. Denver works with Xcel Energy toward 100% renewable electricity for city facilities by 2030 and community-wide by 2040.

The Excellence in Resourcefulness Awards program evaluates utilities on societal impact indicators including resource management and customer engagement, along with business impact factors such as operational efficiency and vision for implementing technology-oriented sustainability strategies.

Texarkana Water Utilities in Texas received the Excellence in Resourcefulness Award in the water category for infrastructure modernization and leak detection programs that identified potential water losses exceeding 137 million gallons annually.

Contact Fort Collins Utilities at 970-221-6700 or visit fcgov.com/utilities for information about electricity programs and rates.