The City and County of Denver (CCD) and Xcel Energy currently partner to deliver essential public infrastructure and utility services to Denver residents, businesses, and public spaces across Denver communities. That partnership is formalized via a Franchise Agreement. Every 20 years, the City and Xcel Energy negotiate a Franchise Agreement to refer to the voters, outlining each organization's roles and responsibilities in providing these services effectively.
The current 20-year Franchise Agreement expires December 31, 2026. The City and Xcel Energy have negotiated a new agreement that will be presented to Denver voters for approval once referred by City Council. The City is leveraging this opportunity to advance energy goals and other priorities for the residents of Denver.
The proposed Franchise Agreement supports Denver by:
The Companion Agreement
While the Franchise Agreement is focused on the formal partnership between the City and Xcel Energy to deliver utility services to Denver residents, the City has also negotiated a companion agreement to achieve additional community-informed energy priorities. The companion document, named the Energy Partnership Agreement (EPA), establishes the ongoing commitments between the City and Xcel Energy to collaborate on energy and infrastructure projects to advance energy reliability, affordability and sustainability.
The proposed Franchise Agreement and Energy Partnership Agreement (EPA) are designed to support reliable energy service, improve coordination between the City and Xcel Energy, and create opportunities for investments that benefit Denver residents over the next 20 years. Below outlines key community benefits included in the agreements.
Supporting Denver's Future
The Franchise Agreement provides resources and tools that help the city continue to deliver essential services and better represent the interests of Denver residents on energy issues. These benefits include:
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Stronger negotiation power at the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), where the City advocates on behalf of Denver residents to advance energy affordability, reliability, and sustainability
Lower Energy Costs and Financial Assistance
The EPA expands energy affordability programs and connects more eligible residents with existing utility bill assistance, rebates, and energy-saving programs. Xcel Energy will contribute more than $5 million in shareholder dollars to energy assistance programs and deploy energy resource navigators to help Denver residents find and enroll in programs that can lower energy bills, improve home efficiency, and provide access to available financial assistance. In addition, $2 million of the approximately $34 million the City receives in franchise fees annually is set aside for income-qualified energy affordability programs.
The EPA also includes an Electric Heating Rate Pilot to lower winter off-peak electricity costs for residents with heat pumps.
Expedited and Cost-Effective Public Projects
“Relocation benefits” in the Franchise Agreement help the City and Xcel Energy coordinate utility work during public construction projects. Better coordination means projects can move more efficiently with less disruption to residents and businesses.
Relocation benefits help reduce delays and costs for projects such as:
In addition, with relocation benefits, Xcel Energy is responsible for the costs of the utility work that would otherwise be an additional expense for the City to complete the project. For example, relocation costs for the Colfax Bus Rapid Transit project are estimated to total $4.5 million. Relocation benefits saves the City approximately $150 million per year, making more infrastructure projects possible.
These benefits extend not only to the City, but also key partners, including Denver International Airport, National Western Center, Regional Transportation District (RTD), Denver Water, Metro Water Recovery, Mile High Flood District, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), and General Improvement Districts (GIDs).
Investing in Denver Neighborhoods
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As Denver grows, the City's energy infrastructure must grow with it. The proposed agreements support investments that help maintain reliable utility service while improving how energy infrastructure is planned, built and integrated into Denver's neighborhoods. These investments include: Repairs to traffic signals and streetlights
Neighborhood-Compatible Energy Infrastructure
Because energy infrastructure must be located near energy users, it often must be built within the neighborhoods it serves. The EPA includes a process for Xcel to receive and document community input on substation design through a good neighbor commitment and a citywide framework agreement to ensure that future energy infrastructure is compatible with local neighborhood design. In addition, a minimum of 1% of substation project costs will be dedicated to design features that fit surrounding neighborhoods, such as walls or facades, landscaping, or murals. See examples below.
Substation on Larimer Street in Denver with mural art.
Substation on Market Street in Denver with a brick building façade.
Innovative Programs and Pilots
The EPA creates a process for the City and Xcel Energy to continue testing and scaling innovative ideas and new technologies through pilot projects.
These projects may explore ways to:
- Reduce energy costs
- Improve electric reliability
- Expand clean energy technologies
- Improve energy efficiency for homes and buildings
- Support neighborhood energy solutions
As community needs and technologies change, new pilot projects can be identified with input from community stakeholders and developed throughout the life of the agreement.
The EPA outlines more than $345 million in pilot projects currently underway that advance sustainability, reliability, and affordability priorities and includes two new pilots, the Electric Heating Rate Pilot to reduce energy costs for heat pump customers and Ambient Loop District Energy Pilot to create a clean-energy district in downtown Denver.
As a franchisee, the City is also eligible for pilot projects specifically designated for communities with active Franchise Agreements. For example, the City can be designated a gas planning pilot community, which supports a transition to more sustainable energy sources by decommissioning a portion of or avoiding the expansion of gas distribution systems, if it has a Franchise Agreement in place.
More Transparency and Community Oversight
The EPA includes new ways for community members to stay informed about progress towards Denver's energy future, including public reporting via an online dashboard and updates to City Council, City leadership, City advisory committees, and the public. In addition, the EPA establishes a Community Advisory Group that will represent a broad range of community perspectives and provide oversight on the partnership's priorities. The partnership will be formally evaluated on five-year intervals.
The City and County of Denver and Xcel Energy began negotiating a new Franchise Agreement in 2025, as the current agreement expires on December 31, 2026. An initial version of the Energy Partnership Agreement (EPA), a companion document to the Franchise Agreement, was also developed during this time. After reviewing the proposal, Denver City Council chose not to refer the Franchise Agreement to the 2025 ballot. Council requested additional community engagement to ensure the Energy Partnership Agreement more clearly reflected community priorities.
To strengthen the Energy Partnership Agreement, Denver convened a community Working Group with representatives from City Council, the City’s sustainability and transportation and infrastructure advisory committees, as well neighborhood, labor, business, affordable housing, architecture, clean energy, and economic development representatives to identify priorities for the City's long-term collaboration with Xcel Energy.
Working Group members included:
- Councilmember Darrell Watson, District 9
- Councilmember Sarah Parady, At-Large
- Jeff Ackermann, Together Colorado
- Adair Andre, Colorado Energy Office
- Luke Johnson, Broadway GID
- Joe Levi, DOTI Advisory Board
- Aaron Martinez, Urban Land Conservancy
- Keith Meyer, Denver INC
- Sue Powers, Urban Ventures, LLC
- Jeremy Ross, IBEW Local 111
With input from the Working Group, the City and Xcel Energy refined the Energy Partnership Agreement while maintaining the negotiated Franchise Agreement.
Working Group Contributions
The Working Group contributed their expertise and diverse community perspectives to inform goals, processes, standards, and initiatives relating to energy affordability, neighborhood-compatible substation design, community engagement, transparency and reporting, pilot program priorities, and more.
Here is an overview of the Working Group's priorities and how they informed updates to the Energy Partnership Agreement:
The new EPA provisions provide significant financial investments in Denver’s energy future, as outlined below:
Browse the FAQs below to learn more about these benefits and the strong partnership the city maintains with Xcel Energy to provide utility services to the city.
What is a public franchise agreement?
A franchise agreement is a contract between a municipality and a public utility outlining public benefits and granting a utility the right to use Denver's public right-of-way to install, maintain and repair infrastructure and facilities to deliver utility services.
CCD's Franchise Agreement grants Xcel Energy the non-exclusive right to use Denver's right-of-way and Airport property to build the infrastructure needed to provide electricity, gas, steam and chilled water to the city – its homes, businesses, and public spaces. The franchise agreement also regulates operational matters pertaining to traffic signals and streetlights managed in partnership with Xcel Energy.
Why do Denver voters approve the City's Franchise Agreement with Xcel Energy?
Denver's charter specifies all franchise agreements impacting public streets, alleyways, or places be referred to a vote of the people to ensure authorized uses of public property serve the public good and involve transparent decision-making. CCD has an existing 20-year Franchise Agreement with Xcel Energy expiring December 31, 2026. CCD is using this opportunity to resecure the benefits of the Franchise Agreement, while simultaneously strengthening the city and Xcel Energy's partnership to achieve the greatest benefits for Denverites.
When will Denverites vote on the Franchise Agreement? What happens when it is approved or rejected by voters?
Denver City Council will review the new Franchise Agreement in July 2026 with the option to refer it to voters for the November 2026 election.
If approved by Denver voters, the new agreement will go into effect on January 1, 2027, providing financial benefits and fostering strengthened partnership, resiliency, safety, and efficiency in delivering public projects and utility services to Denverites.
If rejected by Denver voters, Xcel Energy will continue to serve Denver residents, but Denverites will not receive the same benefits achieved through the Franchise Agreement, such as utility relocations and utility undergrounding. Negotiation and litigation will occur for each individual infrastructure project to determine responsibility and cost for utility relocations. Without utility relocation provision, infrastructure projects will potentially face schedule delays, rising costs, diminished scope, and/or re-design.
Are there alternatives to the Franchise Agreement, such as municipalization?
CCD is not restricted from exploring municipalization while the Franchise Agreement is in place and can make the decision to leave the Franchise Agreement at any point in time. There will be a regular, five-year interval to reevaluate the partnership.
If the City were to pursue municipalization, it is estimate that it would cost $4 – 5 billion for the City to purchase the infrastructure from Xcel Energy.
How does the Franchise Agreement help City infrastructure projects?
When the city builds or repairs new city building, streets, or sidewalks, Xcel Energy must relocate its utility infrastructure to make space in the public right-of-way for the new infrastructure. This saves significant taxpayer money for public projects and minimizes construction and service disruptions to Denver homes and businesses.
The agreement's utility relocation benefits extend to aviation property, which is critical to meet the growing operational and development needs of Denver International Airport (DEN). The relocation benefits also extend to public projects managed by City and County Departments, Denver Water, National Western Center, RTD, Metro Wastewater, Business Improvement Districts, and more. Over the last 20-year agreement term, the relocation requirement saved CCD an estimated $3 billion for non-airport projects.
How will the Franchise Agreement affect my energy bills?
CCD recognizes the challenge of rising household costs in Denver, including utility rates. Denver agencies and Council Members collaborate to understand the policy challenges and gaps in available supports and services to best meet community needs. While the city is actively engaged at the PUC on behalf of all Denver residents, the franchise agreement does not set utility rates.
Xcel Energy proposes utility billing rates, which are approved by the PUC, and provides utility assistance and efficiency opportunities as required by Colorado State Statute (Title 24 & 40) and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission Rules Regulating Electric and Gas Utilities. The Colorado Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate (UCA) advocates for the interests of residential, small business, and agricultural utility customers in Colorado. They work with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to ensure fair and reasonable rates for utility services, according to the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA).
The EPA does include an increase in shareholder contributions to energy assistance programs and energy resources navigators to support Denverites in accessing programs that can lower energy bills, improve home efficiency, and provide financial assistance.
Do other communities have Franchise Agreements with Xcel Energy? How does our agreement compare?
More than 100 communities across the state of Colorado have franchise agreements with Xcel Energy. Many use Xcel’s standard franchise agreement contract. Boulder also negotiated a franchise agreement after it paused municipalization efforts in 2020. The tables below outline key components of Denver’s Franchise Agreement and Energy Partnership Agreement and how it compares to the standard and Boulder’s agreements.
How does the Franchise Agreement impact CCD street lights?
The ownership, operation and repair of street lights in Denver falls to Xcel Energy. The city purchases the services delivered by Xcel Energy to meet the needs of the city.
Need to report an outdoor lighting outage, replace, or replacement? Report it here.
Want to request a new street light on your block? Request it here.