Colorado’s Gas Planning Pilot Communities

Colorado’s HB 24-1370 requires the Colorado Energy Office to identify five gas planning pilot communities. These communities will target neighborhood-scale alternatives projects, which will seek to decommission a portion of the gas distribution system or avoid expanding the gas distribution system in order to serve new construction projects and provide substitute alternative energy service to buildings. In identifying proposed communities, the Colorado Energy Office must prioritize local governments that are interested in pursuing thermal energy network or geothermal energy projects as part of the proposed community’s evaluation of potential neighborhood-scale alternatives projects. The bill requires the utility to work with an approved community to rank neighborhood-scale alternatives projects and, before June 1, 2026, to submit at least one neighborhood-scale alternatives project in each community to the commission for approval.