Denver’s City Council Governance Committee on Tuesday signed off on a negotiated 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy, moving a major power deal one step closer to the ballot. The proposed package would keep more than $180 million a year flowing to the city in franchise fees, relocation savings, and undergrounding funds, while layering on new shareholder-funded bill help and neighborhood design commitments for substations. With an Aug. 3 referral deadline closing in, the full council now has to decide whether to send the measure to voters for the Nov. 3 ballot.
According to a city staff report filed on Denver Legistar, the proposed agreement would continue more than $180 million a year in franchise fees, infrastructure relocation savings, and undergrounding funds, and notes that the current framework’s relocation clause has already saved the city an estimated $3 billion. The report outlines a 3 percent franchise fee, projected at about $34 million next year, and dedicates roughly 1 percent of electric gross revenues, about $10 million annually, to city-directed undergrounding projects.
The companion Energy Partnership Agreement stacks on affordability and transparency provisions, including a one-time $2.5 million shareholder-funded donation for bill payment assistance in 2027, $125,000 a year for income-qualified programs, and $250,000 annually to support Energy Resource Navigators, as reported by the Denver Gazette. It also calls for independent audits every three years, requires at least 1 percent of each substation construction budget to go toward neighborhood-compatible design upgrades, and creates a city-hosted dashboard and community advisory group to track metrics and spending.
Council pushback and community concerns
Council members and community advocates had already taken a red pen to an earlier draft last year, opting not to send that version to voters in August 2025 after arguing the companion agreement needed firmer commitments on affordability, data access and contamination cleanup, according to Denverite. Advocates and local reporters have also raised questions about whether undergrounding funds have been used equitably in other communities and pushed for stronger, clearly enforceable performance standards from the utility.
Timeline and next steps
The Governance Committee voted to advance both the core franchise ordinance and the Energy Partnership Agreement to the full council for consideration ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline to refer the measure to the Nov. 3, ballot, according to the city’s legislative materials on Denver Legistar. If the council approves referral and voters give the green light in November, the agreements would then need sign-off from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission before taking effect on Jan. 1, 2027.
What’s at stake
City staff and Xcel negotiators say the package preserves key public benefits, including the franchise fee, Xcel’s relocation obligation, and the undergrounding program, all of which the city would lose without a new agreement, a change that could squeeze the general fund and complicate public works projects, as reported by the Denver Gazette. The full council is expected to hold additional hearings and votes in July and early August, while advocates and opponents gear up for a potential citywide referendum that could define Denver’s energy relationship for the next two decades.
