Public Utilities

This chapter addresses Article XXV of the Colorado Constitution, which governs public utilities. Added in 1954, the article grants the general assembly authority, which it had lacked, to regulate privately owned public utilities operating in home rule cities. It also affirms the general assembly’s power over privately owned utilities located elsewhere in the state and its authority over the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). A bit unusual is the article’s delegation to the PUC of full legislative discretion until the general assembly provides otherwise. This gave the PUC rather open-ended powers for a short time. The general assembly has now preempted the field with specific legislation. Meanwhile, Article XXV’s last phrase states that it does not “apply to municipally owned utilities.” This preserves immunity from legislative, and thus PUC, control.