Colorado has proven that opening grid expansion to private capital and competitive procurement can deliver new capacity years faster and at lower cost than the traditional utility-only build model. The state’s approach treats distributed energy resources and community-scale projects as legitimate grid assets rather than afterthoughts, creating a replicable framework for modernizing transmission and distribution systems nationwide.
For decades, utilities have held near-exclusive rights to build and own grid infrastructure, a model that made sense when centralized generation dominated but now creates bottlenecks as demand grows and decarbonization accelerates. Colorado’s legislation and subsequent regulatory implementation broke that monopoly by requiring competitive solicitations for grid needs, forcing utilities to evaluate third-party solutions on equal footing with their own proposals.
The results are already measurable. Projects selected through competitive processes have come online in roughly half the time of utility-owned equivalents, with cost savings passed directly to ratepayers. This matters acutely as data centers, electrification, and extreme weather strain systems across the West — utilities simply cannot build fast enough under the old paradigm, and regulators are under pressure to demonstrate affordability.
Other states are watching closely. The Colorado model doesn’t require federal action; it operates within existing state regulatory authority, making it immediately adoptable. But replication demands political will to overcome incumbent resistance and regulatory expertise to design solicitations that genuinely level the playing field. The blueprint exists — the question is whether other commissions will use it.
Read the full report at Utility Dive.