From the Denver Business Journal - Xcel Energy Inc. on Monday said electricity bills for its Colorado customers will rise, collectively, about $52.7 million for the second quarter of 2010 to cover higher natural gas costs to fuel power plants and buying more power on the wholesale market.

Residential and small-business customer bills are expected to rise about 8 percent, the utility said.

The increase comes in the utility’s quarterly “Electric Commodity Adjustment” (ECA), which is filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. If approved, the new rates would take effect April 1.

Costs associated with increases or decreases through the ECA are passed along to customers on a dollar-per-dollar basis, the utility said.

If approved, the ECA portion of customers’ bills will increase to 3.7 cents per kilowatt-hour for the second quarter, compared to 2.9 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first quarter of this year. For typical residential customers using 632 kilowatt-hours a month, current bills are expected to increase by $5.18 a month to $71.53.

Typical small-business customer using 1,123 kilowatt-hours a month would see current bills rise by $9.21 a month to $122.41, the utility said.

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