United Power rates, bills and the demand charge

United Power's average price per kWh

United Power is a member-owned distribution cooperative based in Brighton, serving the plains north and northeast of Denver and the Golden Gate and Coal Creek canyons in the foothills, according to its service area page. It sold electricity to 103,104 residential members in 2025, 4.1%¹ of Colorado's residential customers and the fourth-largest number after Xcel Energy, Colorado Springs Utilities and CORE Electric Cooperative.

Those members paid an average of 16.50¢ per kWh in 2025. That is average revenue per kWh: everything billed to residential members, the fixed charge, demand charge and power cost adjustment included, divided by the kWh they used. It ranked 7th highest of the 20 Colorado utilities with 10,000 or more residential customers and was 5.2% above the Colorado average. Among Colorado's four largest utilities it was the highest: Xcel Energy averaged 15.90¢ per kWh, CORE Electric Cooperative 15.62¢ per kWh and Colorado Springs Utilities 15.43¢ per kWh¹.

Colorado Springs Utilities (CO)15.43¢

CORE Electric Cooperative (CO)15.62¢

Xcel Energy (CO)15.90¢

United Power (CO)16.50¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. EIA-861 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh is all charges divided by kWh; it is not a tariff rate.

Show the numbers

Utility	average residential price (bundled customers)
Colorado Springs Utilities (CO)	15.43¢
CORE Electric Cooperative (CO)	15.62¢
Xcel Energy (CO)	15.90¢
United Power (CO)	16.50¢

Measured against other cooperatives, the gap is wider. Colorado's cooperatives as a group averaged 15.51¢ per kWh in 2025, and United Power was 17.0% above the national average for electric cooperatives (14.10¢ per kWh). Among the 177 US utilities with 100,000 or more residential customers it ranked 64th highest of 177, above their median of 15.07¢ per kWh¹.

Two more recent readings come from EIA's monthly sample: 17.94¢ per kWh over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026), and 16.76¢ per kWh² in August 2026³ alone. Both are preliminary for 2026 months. Colorado has no retail choice for homes (0.0%¹ of residential customers bought from a supplier in 2025), so members cannot buy their electricity elsewhere.

A bill level shared with CORE, not with Xcel

A United Power home used 797 kWh a month on average in 2025, against the Colorado average of 658 kWh and well above Xcel's 584 kWh. Higher use at a higher average price produced a monthly bill of $131.45, almost the same as CORE's $131.72 and far above the $92.91¹ averaged on both Xcel's and Colorado Springs Utilities' systems. Colorado's statewide average residential bill was $103.30, the 3rd lowest⁴ among the states.

EIA's data do not explain why homes on one system use more than on another. House size, electric heating, electric vehicles and farm properties all affect use, and the survey does not break them out by utility. The co-op's own innovation page counts electric vehicles and rooftop solar among its members, but it gives no estimate of what they add to average use.

Price changes: 2025, the latest months and January 2027

The residential average rose 4.8% from 2024 to 2025, from 15.75¢ per kWh to 16.50¢ per kWh, slightly less than Colorado's statewide increase of 5.2%⁶ over the same years. Use per home fell from 811 kWh to 797 kWh, so the average bill changed by +2.9%, from $127.70⁵ to $131.45¹.

The monthly figures show a steeper rise since. The 12-month average to August 2026 was 17.94¢ per kWh, above Xcel's 16.82¢ per kWh and CORE's 17.08¢ per kWh over the same months. In August 2026³ the average was 16.76¢ per kWh, +10.8% against August 2025, a larger year-on-year change than Xcel's (+4.0%) or CORE's (+6.3%²). EIA will replace these preliminary monthly numbers with final 2026 data from its annual survey in August 2027.

United PowerColorado average, all providers

Source: EIA-861M monthly sales and revenue by utility; EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state. Residential revenue divided by kWh in each month, as reported to EIA's monthly survey (EIA-861M; months since January 2026 preliminary).

Show the numbers

Month	United Power (¢/kWh)	kWh per customer	Bill per customer
January 2025	15.94¢	847	$135.03
February 2025	15.88¢	856	$136.00
March 2025	16.78¢	723	$121.23
April 2025	17.60¢	636	$111.87
May 2025	18.15¢	600	$108.85
June 2025	17.21¢	719	$123.69
July 2025	15.37¢	1,053	$161.82
August 2025	15.13¢	1,108	$167.68
September 2025	15.94¢	922	$146.99
October 2025	17.36¢	691	$119.99
November 2025	17.63¢	634	$111.74
December 2025	17.42¢	746	$129.88
January 2026	17.93¢	804	$144.27
February 2026	19.17¢	642	$123.12
March 2026	21.09¢	610	$128.58
April 2026	23.57¢	617	$145.36
May 2026	18.15¢	600	$108.85
June 2026	18.61¢	869	$161.75
July 2026	16.02¢	1,402	$224.64
August 2026	16.76¢	1,157	$193.91

United Power's rates are approved by its elected board of directors. A legal notice dated November 9, 2026 says the board approved increases to energy, demand and fixed charges effective on or after January 1, 2027, for every rate class, and lists the expected change in the average monthly bill for each one. The notice cites higher wholesale power and transmission costs, and it also announces changes to the net metering and power cost adjustment tariffs. None of the EIA figures above include the 2027 change.

The demand charge on every standard bill

United Power's default residential rate, R1, is not a single price per kWh. Its residential rate page lists three charges: a fixed monthly charge, a flat energy charge per kWh, and a demand charge per kW based on the household's highest 15-minute interval of use at any hour of the billing month. Running a dryer, an oven and an electric vehicle charger at the same moment raises the demand charge even if total kWh stay the same. The co-op's demand page explains how the peak interval and its time appear on the bill.

Three optional rates rearrange those charges. The time-of-use rate prices energy higher from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and keeps the anytime demand charge; the peak time-of-use rate charges demand only for use in that evening window; and the Smart Choice rate pairs a low energy charge with two demand charges. EIA counted 3,636 residential members on time-of-use pricing in 2025, 3.5% of the total, against 99.6% on Xcel's wires. Advanced meters, which make interval billing possible, were installed at 99.9%⁷ of United Power's residential meters.

This structure also shapes the averages. The fixed charge is the same whatever the use, so in months of heavy use it is spread over more kWh and the average price per kWh falls. EIA's monthly data fit that pattern: the August 2026³ average (16.76¢ per kWh) was below the 12-month average (17.94¢ per kWh), while on Xcel's system the same month was above it (18.03¢ per kWh against 16.82¢ per kWh²). The time-of-use guide shows how period pricing changes a bill.

July use more than double May's

Over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026), the average United Power home used 600 kWh in May 2026, the lowest month, and 1,402 kWh in July 2026, the highest. The average bill went from $108.85 to $224.64. That July bill was the largest of Colorado's four big utilities: CORE's peak was $201.05 and Xcel's $165.82², both also in July.

922Sep

691Oct

634Nov

746Dec

804Jan

642Feb

610Mar

617Apr

600May

869Jun

1,402Jul

1,157Aug

Source: EIA-861M monthly sales and revenue by utility. kWh per residential customer in each month (EIA-861M; months since January 2026 preliminary). The table adds the average bill and price for the month.

Show the numbers

Month	kWh per customer	Bill per customer	¢/kWh
September 2025	922	$146.99	15.94¢
October 2025	691	$119.99	17.36¢
November 2025	634	$111.74	17.63¢
December 2025	746	$129.88	17.42¢
January 2026	804	$144.27	17.93¢
February 2026	642	$123.12	19.17¢
March 2026	610	$128.58	21.09¢
April 2026	617	$145.36	23.57¢
May 2026	600	$108.85	18.15¢
June 2026	869	$161.75	18.61¢
July 2026	1,402	$224.64	16.02¢
August 2026	1,157	$193.91	16.76¢

Across the full 12 months, a United Power home averaged 809 kWh and $145.16² a month. Colorado's winters are cold (6,608⁸ heating degree days a year on average, 2016–2025, NOAA), but only 24.6%⁹ of Colorado homes heat mainly with electricity (Census, 2025), so the winter months do not produce a second peak of the July size.

Rooftop solar well above the Colorado rate

United Power reported 13,299 net-metered residential solar installations in 2025, with 78.7 megawatts of capacity. That is 129.0 per 1,000 residential members, against 73.8 per 1,000 across Colorado (the 6th highest rate among the states) and 38.1⁷ nationally.

Under United Power's rates, panels reduce the energy part of a bill but not the fixed charge, and they can lower the demand charge only if the household's highest 15-minute interval falls while the sun is producing. The co-op's 2027 notice includes updates to its net metering tariff; the net metering guide explains how credits work in general.

Outages: short on ordinary days

Two figures describe United Power's reliability in 2025, both measured under the IEEE 1366 standard. Counting every event, a member was without power for 303 minutes over the year, more than the Colorado average of 274 minutes. Leaving out major event days, the storms and other severe days that the standard reports separately, the total drops to 90 minutes, below Colorado's 118 minutes. Interruptions were also less frequent than statewide: 1.18 per member, against 1.30¹⁰ for Colorado. The bulk of the outage minutes, in other words, came on major event days.

Service area: from the foothills to Weld County

United Power appears in EIA's county records for six counties: Adams, Boulder, Broomfield, Gilpin, Jefferson and Weld. Not one of them is United Power's alone: other distribution utilities report customers in all 6¹¹, and the co-op's list of communities includes suburbs such as Thornton, Westminster and Broomfield where it is not the only electric provider in the county. Whether a particular house is on United Power's lines is decided by the co-op's own territory map, address by address; EIA has no town-level or ZIP-level price, and this page shows none.

United Power onlyUnited Power and other utilitiesOther utilities

Source: EIA-861 2025, service territory; Census Bureau, Cartographic boundary file, counties. EIA-861 2025 service territory: 6 counties. Counts whole counties even where the utility serves only part of one; check the utility's own service-area map for an address.

Show the numbers

County	Other utilities reporting service
Adams County	Xcel Energy, CORE Electric Cooperative, Morgan County Rural Electric Association, WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration
Boulder County	Xcel Energy, Poudre Valley REA, City of Longmont, Town of Estes Park, Town of Lyons, WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration
Broomfield County	WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration
Gilpin County	Xcel Energy
Jefferson County	Xcel Energy, CORE Electric Cooperative, WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration
Weld County	Xcel Energy, Poudre Valley REA, City of Longmont, Morgan County Rural Electric Association, Highline Electric Association, High West Energy, WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration

Commercial and industrial accounts

Businesses paid less per kWh than homes in 2025. The co-op's 11,488 commercial accounts averaged 12.98¢ per kWh, or $651.97 a month, and its 887 industrial accounts 9.87¢ per kWh. Over all 115,479 accounts of every class, the figure was 12.35¢ per kWh¹.

For members who cannot keep up with bills, the federal LIHEAP program gave Colorado $55.5 million¹³ for fiscal 2026; the help paying guide covers how to apply. The Colorado page compares United Power with the state's other utilities.