Colorado § 40-3.3-102 - Request for information - gas planning pilot community - disclosures - repeal.

§ 40-3.3-102. Request for information - gas planning pilot community - disclosures - repeal.

(1) (a) By December 1, 2024, the Colorado energy office shall issue a request for information to identify local governments whose residents are served by a dual-fuel utility that are interested in becoming a gas planning pilot community.

(b) The Colorado energy office shall include in the request for information the minimum criteria that a local government must meet in order to become a gas planning pilot community, including:

(I) A demonstration that designation as a gas planning pilot community would align with the local government's climate and energy affordability goals;

(II) A willingness to promote neighborhood-scale alternatives projects and to support, engage, and educate residents within a community for which a neighborhood-scale alternatives project is proposed prior to approval by the commission; and

(III) A commitment of internal or external staff resources to identify and implement neighborhood-scale alternatives projects.

(c) At least thirty days prior to issuing the request for information, the Colorado energy office shall publish a draft of the request for information on its website and provide an opportunity for the public to submit written comments.

(2) (a) By April 30, 2025, the Colorado energy office and a dual-fuel utility shall jointly file with the commission the results of the request for information required by subsection (1)(a) of this section, identifying up to five proposed gas planning pilot communities. In identifying proposed gas planning pilot communities, the Colorado energy office and a dual-fuel utility shall prioritize local governments that are interested in pursuing thermal energy network or geothermal energy projects as part of the proposed gas planning pilot community's evaluation of any potential neighborhood-scale alternatives project pursuant to section 40-3.3-103. The Colorado energy office and the dual-fuel utility shall also jointly file a draft agreement between the dual-fuel utility and any proposed gas planning pilot community, which draft agreement must:

(I) Identify the roles and responsibilities of the dual-fuel utility and the proposed gas planning pilot community in identifying neighborhood-scale alternatives projects;

(II) Identify time frames for each party to furnish data or respond to requests for data from the other party;

(III) Include any necessary waivers of commission rules to facilitate data transfer between the parties;

(IV) Include a process to address conflicts between the two parties; and

(V) Indicate whether the proposed gas planning pilot community has demonstrated an interest in pursuing thermal energy network or geothermal energy projects.

(b) The commission shall provide an opportunity for the public to submit written comments on the filing.

(c) By June 30, 2025, the commission shall approve or modify the list of proposed gas planning pilot communities; except that the commission shall not increase the number of proposed gas planning pilot communities beyond five.

(3) By October 1, 2025, a dual-fuel utility shall enter into an agreement with each local government that has been approved as a gas planning pilot community and shall submit to the commission a list of the gas planning pilot communities with which the dual-fuel utility has established an agreement. The dual-fuel utility and local government may agree to extend this deadline.

(4) Subsections (1) to (3) of this section and this subsection (4) are repealed, effective June 1, 2028.

(5) (a) Unless otherwise directed by the commission or requested by the gas planning pilot community, a dual-fuel utility shall provide each gas planning pilot community, the commission, and the Colorado energy office with data and information to inform the evaluation of potential neighborhood-scale alternatives projects that includes:

(I) The location of any planned gas infrastructure projects in the gas planning pilot community within the six-year gas project planning forecast in the dual-fuel utility's most recently approved gas infrastructure plan or identified by the dual-fuel utility for inclusion in a future gas infrastructure plan to the extent available; and

(II) The following information regarding the planned gas infrastructure projects described in subsection (5)(a)(I) of this section:

(A) The project name;

(B) The project category, consistent with the planned projects categories described in applicable commission rules;

(C) A description of the general scope of work and an explanation of the need for the project, including any applicable code requirements of the United States department of transportation's pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration;

(D) The projected life of the project;

(E) An indication of whether the project is presented as a gas infrastructure plan action period project or a gas infrastructure plan informational period project pursuant to applicable commission rules;

(F) The anticipated: Construction start date for the project; construction period for the project, including an indication of any construction phases; and in-service date for the project;

(G) The cost-estimate classification for the project, using the dual-fuel utility's or an industry-accepted cost-estimate classification index; support for the cost-estimate classification; and the total cost estimate for the project;

(H) The technical details of the project, such as the physical equipment characteristics of the proposed facilities, pipeline length, pipeline diameter, project materials, and maximum allowable operating pressure;

(I) The project location and an illustrative map of the gas distribution system facilities, subject to necessary confidentiality provisions, including: The pressure district or geographic area that requires the proposed facilities, the existing and proposed regulator stations and existing and proposed distribution piping and higher capacity pipelines served by or representing the proposed facilities, the locations of any nearby disproportionately impacted communities, and any other information necessary to allow the local government to make a thorough evaluation of the project;

(J) To the extent practicable, the number of customers, annual sales, and design peak demand requirements, disaggregated by customer class, potentially directly impacted or served by the project;

(K) Any permits required for work on the project to begin; and

(L) Any environmental requirements associated with completion of the project.

(b) A dual-fuel utility shall provide gas planning pilot community staff and consultants, who have signed appropriate nondisclosure agreements, with all requested gas and electric customer usage and design peak demand data, to the extent available and disaggregated to the individual customer, for all planned gas infrastructure projects located in a gas planning pilot community within the six-year gas project planning forecast in the dual-fuel utility's most recently approved gas infrastructure plan or identified by the dual-fuel utility for inclusion in a future gas infrastructure plan. The dual-fuel utility shall provide such information within the relevant time frame established pursuant to subsection (2)(a)(II) of this section.

(c) The information described in subsections (5)(a) and (5)(b) of this section is exempt from the "Colorado Open Records Act", part 2 of article 72 of title 24.

Source: L. 2024: Entire article added, (HB 24-1370), ch. 220, p. 1371, § 1, effective August 7. L. 2025: (4) amended, (SB 25-300), ch. 428, p. 2459, § 65, effective August 6.