Match seasonal gas usage to contract pricing in Colorado

Colorado: Build a month-by-month exposure map

Start with EIA: supply, demand, weather and storage price drivers. The table below links this decision to the represented gas companies in Colorado. It does not establish service or supplier availability for every account.

Use weighted prices

For each month, multiply projected therms by that month’s assumed supply price. Add applicable fixed fees separately. An unweighted average gives a low-volume summer month the same influence as a high-volume heating month.

Separate price exposure from operating exposure

A fixed commodity component does not establish firm transportation or remove a curtailment obligation. Ask operations to review notice and response requirements independently of finance’s price scenario.

Colorado utility application

Xcel Energy / Public Service Company of Colorado: the program detail behind this decision

Public Service Company of Colorado lists separate small and large commercial sales schedules and small and large firm transportation schedules. A transportation tariff is an operating arrangement with its own terms; an Xcel electricity account or another distributor’s gas contract does not qualify the premises. Xcel Co Tariff.

Apply the evidence to an account file

In the monthly budget, keep Gas-cost adjustment under sales service versus transportation, fuel and agent charges visible. Obtain the service response for Transportation agreement, capacity, nominations and imbalance responsibility before assuming that a winter price arrangement also guarantees the required operating flexibility.

Worked check: an average can hide the heating load

Assume a hypothetical two-month illustration uses 3,000 therms at $1.00 and 1,000 therms at $0.60. The commodity total is $3,600 and the usage-weighted price is $0.90 per therm. The simple average price is $0.80; applying it to 4,000 therms understates the illustration by $400. No fees or delivery charges are included. This is arithmetic, not a claim about which local months or prices will be higher. Use all twelve actual delivery months for the real budget.

Turn the review into a calculation

Build a monthly weighted budget. Enter documented assumptions in matching energy units. Keep any charge outside both supply offers separate; the result does not establish eligibility or an available quote.

Read the Colorado utility guide for the wider service-company distinctions. Convert billed gas units using the bill’s heat-content factor when moving from volume to energy.