Fort Collins Utilities Rate Selection Guide
Fort Collins Utilities is a community-owned municipal utility delivering electric, water, wastewater, and stormwater service to roughly 80,000 electric customers in northern Colorado. With citywide AMI and 15-minute interval data, it offers strong self-service access plus Green Button via UtilityAPI (now being deprecated) and ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager web services for benchmarking and third-party data exchange.
Fort Collins Utilities Rate Schedule Comparison
| Schedule | Type | Rate | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| E100 | Commercial/general | Fixed + per-kWh (see tariff) | General commercial accounts without coincident-peak billing. |
| E200 | Small commercial | Fixed + per-kWh (see tariff) | Small commercial businesses. |
| E300 | Large commercial | $32.03/mo + $0.0515/kWh + $14.83–$18.09/kW CP demand | Large commercial accounts ~50–749 kW. |
| E400 | Large commercial/industrial | Fixed + energy + seasonal CP demand (see tariff) | Large industrial loads 750 kW or greater. |
Market Overview
Fort Collins Utilities is a community-owned municipal electric provider. Rates are set by Fort Collins City Council ordinance, and wholesale power is supplied by Platte River Power Authority. Customers cannot shop for a competitive electricity supplier.
Need to pull your actual usage data to compare rates? See the Fort Collins Utilities Data Access Guide →
Current Rate Schedules
Fort Collins commercial electric rates are set by City Council ordinance (2025 rates under Ordinance #168, 2024). Commercial classes are tiered by demand (E100/E200/E300/E400). E300 and E400 feature a coincident-peak demand charge tied to the monthly system peak hour. Verified 2025 figures are shown for E300; other classes are structured here with citation to the official rate sheet, where exact per-kWh and per-kW values should be confirmed.
Effective: January 1, 2025 · Full Tariff Book →
| Schedule | Type | Applicability | Structure | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E100 — Commercial / General Service | commercial | General commercial service (smaller accounts not subject to coincident-peak demand billing). | Monthly fixed charge plus per-kWh energy charge. Exact 2025 values per the City rate sheet (Ordinance #168, 2024); confirm in the linked tariff. | — |
| E200 — Small Commercial | commercial | Small commercial accounts. | Monthly fixed charge plus per-kWh energy charge (and demand where applicable). Exact 2025 values per the City rate sheet; confirm in the linked tariff. | — |
| E300 — Large Commercial | commercial | Large commercial accounts with average monthly demand of ~50–749 kW. | Verified 2025: fixed charge $32.03/month; energy $0.0515/kWh; coincident-peak demand charge $14.83/kW non-summer and $18.09/kW summer (June–September). Subject to a seasonal/coincident-peak structure. | — |
| E400 — Large Commercial / Industrial | industrial | Large commercial/industrial accounts with average monthly demand of 750 kW or greater. | Fixed charge plus per-kWh energy charge and a seasonal coincident-peak demand charge (set during the monthly system peak hour). Exact 2025 per-kWh and per-kW values per the City rate sheet; confirm in the linked tariff. | — |
| GS 750 / E400 Net Metering | commercial | Large commercial general service customers with on-site generation electing net metering. | Net-metering variant of the large commercial rate; generation credited per the net-metering tariff. Confirm values in the linked rate sheet. | — |
Rate Recommendations by Use Case
Large commercial facility on E300
E300 accounts (~50–749 kW) should treat coincident-peak avoidance as the top priority given the verified $14.83–$18.09/kW CP charge.
With CP demand driving ~23% of the annual bill from ~12 hours/year, curtailing during the monthly peak hour yields outsized savings versus chasing the $0.0515/kWh energy rate.
- Subscribe to peak-hour forecasts and curtail HVAC/process load during the window
- Use ElectriConnect to compare facility demand against coincident peak
- Confirm summer vs non-summer CP rates ($18.09 vs $14.83/kW) when modeling savings
Large industrial load on E400
Industrial accounts (750 kW+) on E400 should deploy automated peak management and consider storage to shave the seasonal coincident-peak charge.
E400 carries the same seasonal coincident-peak structure as E300; at industrial scale, even modest peak reductions translate into large dollar savings. Confirm exact E400 per-kW values in the City rate sheet.
- Automate curtailment tied to coincident-peak forecasts
- Evaluate battery storage sized to your typical peak kW
- Pull 15-minute interval data via ElectriConnect/UtilityAPI to target peaks
Multi-site portfolio / benchmarking
Organizations with multiple Fort Collins buildings should automate data via Portfolio Manager web services and use ElectriConnect for multi-site demand visibility.
BEWS requires benchmarking for 5,000+ sq ft buildings; Portfolio Manager web services pushes monthly consumption automatically, while ElectriConnect supports multi-site demand analysis for CP management.
- Authorize the Portfolio Manager data connection for each building
- Track each site's coincident-peak contribution separately
- Plan for the MyData deprecation by moving to Portfolio Manager web services
Smaller commercial account (E100/E200)
General and small commercial accounts without coincident-peak billing should focus on energy efficiency and TOD load shifting.
Without a CP demand charge, savings come from reducing total kWh and shifting load out of TOD on-peak windows. Confirm exact E100/E200 rates in the City rate sheet.
- Shift discretionary load out of TOD on-peak hours
- Pursue lighting/HVAC efficiency rebates
- Use MyEnergy 15-minute data to find waste
Historical Rate Trends
Fort Collins electric rates are adjusted annually by City Council ordinance. The 2025 rates were adopted under Ordinance #168, 2024. Wholesale costs from Platte River Power Authority drive much of the change.
January 1, 2025
2025 electric rates adopted via Ordinance #168, 2024, including the seasonal coincident-peak demand structure for commercial classes (verified E300 CP $14.83 non-summer/$18.09 summer per kW).
n/aOverall trend: Gradual annual increases adopted by ordinance to cover wholesale power and infrastructure costs.
Next expected change: Annual rate ordinance (typically effective January 1); monitor City Council actions and the utility rates page.
Cost Optimization Strategies
For Fort Collins commercial customers, the coincident-peak demand charge is the dominant lever. Because it is set during a single monthly peak hour, accurate peak forecasting and short-duration curtailment deliver disproportionate savings.
Coincident-peak avoidance
For: E300 and E400 commercial/industrial accounts
Forecast and curtail load during the monthly system peak hour (afternoons in summer, evenings in winter). On E300, each kW avoided saves $14.83 (non-summer) or $18.09 (summer) on that month's bill.
Time-of-Day load shifting
For: Customers on TOD pricing
Shift discretionary load out of TOD on-peak windows (e.g., 2–7 p.m. weekdays in non-summer) to lower energy costs.
Interval-data analytics via ElectriConnect / UtilityAPI
For: All commercial accounts; especially E300/E400
Use 15-minute interval data to identify peak drivers and validate curtailment. ElectriConnect compares facility demand vs coincident peak; UtilityAPI/Portfolio Manager enable automated analysis.
Battery storage / on-site generation
For: Large commercial/industrial with storage or DER
Discharge storage or run on-site generation during forecast coincident-peak hours to cut billed peak demand.
To implement these strategies, you need your 15-minute interval data. Learn how to download Fort Collins Utilities interval data →
Frequently Asked Questions
How can a third-party consultant get our 15-minute interval data from Fort Collins Utilities?▾
Historically through the UtilityAPI-powered MyData portal (Green Button Connect My Data), which delivers 15/30/60-minute interval data via REST API after customer authorization. That platform is being deprecated and no longer accepts new enrollments, so the go-forward path for whole-building data is ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager web services. For account-specific commercial analysis, ElectriConnect (MV-WEB) is available to the customer directly.
What commercial electric rate classes does Fort Collins use?▾
Commercial classes are tiered by demand: E100 (commercial/general service), E200 (small commercial), E300 (large commercial, ~50–749 kW average monthly demand), and E400 (large commercial/industrial, 750 kW or greater). E300 and E400 carry coincident-peak demand charges set during the monthly system peak hour.
Why is the coincident-peak charge so important for our facility?▾
For E300/E400 accounts, coincident-peak demand charges are based on your facility's demand during the single peak hour each month (about 12 hours per year) yet can account for roughly 23% of the annual electric bill. The verified 2025 E300 coincident-peak charge is $14.83/kW non-summer and $18.09/kW in summer (June–September), so avoiding load during peak hours produces outsized savings.
Does Fort Collins support Green Button and EDI?▾
Fort Collins is Green Button compliant via UtilityAPI (OpenESPI), offering XML/CSV/JSON exports, though the MyData platform is being deprecated. There is no documented EDI trading-partner program; the VertexOne CIS migration may add EDI in the future.
How do we benchmark a building for BEWS compliance?▾
Buildings 5,000+ sq ft must benchmark annually in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and report by June 1. Fort Collins automatically pushes monthly whole-building electric and water consumption to Portfolio Manager once you authorize the connection, eliminating manual data entry.
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