Xcel Energy customers in Colorado face a proposed 33% rate increase, while environmental advocates are warning keeping coal-fired power plants online will be costly for ratepayers and public health.

The Comanche 3 plant southeast of Pueblo has a long history of technical problems and monthslong outages. After it broke down completely last summer, Xcel moved to keep Comanche’s Unit 2 open past its planned 2025 closure.

Liz Rosenbaum, a community organizer in El Paso County, said the move could add to customers’ energy bills.

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“The decision to keep Unit 2 in operation beyond 2025 allows Xcel to charge customers for their own mistakes regarding the failure of Comanche 3,” Rosenbaum contended.

Xcel has argued the most cost-effective path forward is to fix Comanche 3 and keep it operating until its retirement date. State regulators said Xcel would have to show repair costs are reasonable before passing them on to customers.

Colorado’s largest for-profit utility says its proposed rate hike would help recover costs for things such as wildfire mitigation and the transition to clean energy. The Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to take public comments at a hearing May 19.

Coal-fired power plants such as Ray Nixon south of Colorado Springs release significant amounts of toxic pollutants linked to respiratory illnesses, neurological damage and premature death, according to a study published by the National Institutes of Health.

Lawmakers recently passed a measure which would extend Nixon’s retirement date from 2029 to 2032. Rosenbaum argued the legislation ignores the health and well-being of residents who already face disproportionate burdens of air pollution.

“The southern end of El Paso County is a sacrifice zone,” Rosenbaum asserted. “Which means the things that are harmful, they don’t have a second thought putting it where regular working-class families live.”

The Comanche 3 unit in Pueblo could reopen as soon as August, meaning two coal-fired units could be operating at a facility sending most of its electricity to the Denver area.

Rosenbaum stressed Pueblo gets the pollution and Denver gets the power. She added coal-impacted communities need a just transition away from fossil fuels to clean sources such as wind, solar and battery storage.