BLACK HILLS Energy has the unmitigated gall to accuse Frances Koncilja, a Denver lawyer and Pueblo native, of not being impartial in taking positions on the Colorado Public Utilities Commission contrary to the company’s interests. The allegation is absurd.

The regulated utility has filed a motion for Koncilja to remove herself from any further role in reconsidering Black Hills’ request for an $8.5 million revenue increase to cover the cost of a $61 million, seldom-used “peak power” turbine at its Pueblo power plant. On Nov. 30, the three-member PUC – Koncilja and two other commissioners – shot down the proposal, limiting the new revenue to less than $1 million.

Black Hills singled out Koncilja to attack as the sole remaining commissioner now that the other two are leaving the PUC. They are being replaced by Jeff Ackermann from the governor’s Energy Office and Wendy Moser, who just happens to be a former attorney and vice president of Black Hills. Evidently, Black Hills is trying to stack the deck to get the two new commissioners to reverse the PUC’s Nov. 30 decision.

Read more at The Pueblo Chieftain.