The Latino Colorado Community is Hurting

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by our guest columnists do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of this publication.

By Angel Merlos
Strategic director for The LIBRE Initiative

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Although some would like to have us believe that inflation is receding and the economy is improving, many Latino and Hispanic Coloradans are still struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families. And if that wasn’t enough, now our community must contend with higher utility costs – including more expensive heating costs in the middle of the winter!. The Latino Colorado Community is Hurting.

But what many Coloradans don’t know is that unelected government officials comprising the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, as well as the General Assembly are partly driving up these utility rate increases. Xcel energy, one of the state’s biggest energy providers, recently announced plans to raise more than $188 million through rate increases to pay for infrastructure upgrades.

According to some estimates, these rate increases translate to around $7.33 more a month, and the average small business around $10.16 more a month. As we know, every dollar counts, and these rate increases will disproportionately impact the Latino community in our state that have less disposable income.

Incredibly, some are saying that what we need is to retrofit our homes to make our “homes more energy efficient by upgrading gas furnaces and installing new insulation.” That would be great if you have thousands of dollars of disposable income for these home upgrades, but for most Latinos living in Colorado this is simply not possible.

This is why, The LIBRE Initiative is committed to educating the Latino community about the role of government and supports increased transparency and accountability among our government officials. It’s also why we are strong proponents of TABOR – or the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, a constitutional amendment that helps keep state spending in check and keeps our economy strong by permitting voters the opportunity to approve any tax or fee increases.

This same concept applies to government agencies like the Colorado Public Utilities Commission that works with energy companies in the state to determine customer prices. In other words, the government should not get to pick winners and losers.

Instead of a top-down energy policy, state and federal lawmakers should remove burdensome and unnecessary regulations that drive up costs and stifles innovation. Short-term band aid solutions like the ones being proposed to temporarily drive down utility costs do not get to the heart of what’s driving up these rising energy costs.

Over a hundred years ago, a chief justice on the U.S. Supreme Court said: “sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant,” as a way of encouraging better governance and a strong civil society.

This is good advice and one that all our elected and unelected officials should follow.