Beyond the Dais - The Stories of El Paso County
Powering the Future: Inside Colorado Springs Utilities’ Vision for a Sustainable El Paso County
Chief Executive Officer Travas Deal pulls back the curtain on the operations, challenges, and forward-thinking initiatives shaping Colorado Springs Utilities—and the lifeblood of El Paso County.
Essential Services, Community Roots: Utilities are the invisible engine humming beneath our daily lives, powering homes, schools, and businesses. Yet few of us truly understand the people, strategies, and community focus behind the scenes. In a recent episode of Beyond the Dais, host Scott Anderson sat down with Travas Deal, CEO of Colorado Springs Utilities, to discuss everything from his personal journey to the organization’s major infrastructure projects, customer service values, and bold plans for a sustainable future.
A Journey from Indiana to El Paso County: Travas Deal’s roots are in small-town Indiana, where his father spent over three decades working for Duke Energy. Following a stint in the Marine Corps—where he discovered the deep satisfaction of mission-driven service—Deal gravitated toward the energy industry and eventually followed an opportunity in Colorado. Over his eight years with Colorado Springs Utilities—and particularly during his two years as CEO—Deal has come to appreciate how deeply utility work is tied to public service: “We bring essential services; we make sure that everybody can live the lives that they would like to live,” he shared.
One-Stop Shop: The Power of Integration: Unlike many communities where electricity, gas, water, and wastewater come from different entities, Colorado Springs Utilities integrates all four under one roof. Deal highlights the efficiency and customer benefits of this approach: customers have fewer appointments, receive consolidated bills, and interact with well-trained service representatives capable of addressing multiple needs at once.
Yet he acknowledges the challenges—namely, the complexity of managing rates and investments across services, and the pressure to ensure every interaction reflects their community care philosophy. “Our employees are very well trained. We get nothing but compliments from our customer service center,” he said, noting that most representatives are also local residents and ratepayers, with a natural investment in service quality.
Local Control and Strategic Planning: A distinctive feature of Colorado Springs Utilities is its governance. Rather than an investor-owned model, the utility is overseen by Colorado Springs City Council—elected community members who approve rates and strategic decisions. This local oversight, Deal explains, keeps the organization closely aligned with both community values and long-term needs.
This connection to the community also shapes the utility’s rigorous planning cycles. Deal described the recently completed five-year “rate case,” a meticulous process that aligns utility revenue with large-scale capital projects—think new power plants, expanded wastewater systems, and water reservoirs—to “build for what the future of Colorado Springs looks like.”
Planning for Population Growth and Clean Energy: Infrastructure investments are never just about today. As Deal put it, “Our normal growth is exponential at this point. We have to be ahead of what that is.” The utility’s forthcoming Horizon Utility Campus is a prime example: a 400-megawatt natural gas generation facility designed to meet growing demand and transition away from aging coal plants. This project represents about 40% of current local peak demand, underlining its significance.
Colorado Springs Utilities is also diversifying power generation—expanding battery storage, exploring nuclear, and integrating renewables whenever feasible. Deal’s philosophy is pragmatic: “The sun doesn’t shine every day, the wind doesn’t blow every day, and you’ve got to have other types of generation. That’s really what this is going to do for our customers.”
Empowering Customers Through Innovation and Support: One of the most significant upcoming changes for customers is the adoption of “energy-wise rates”—dynamic pricing that reflects the actual cost of electricity at different times of day or year. By shifting energy-intensive activities to off-peak hours, residents can save money and reduce grid strain. At the same time, flat-rate options will be available for those whose routines are less flexible, such as small businesses.
Recognizing that some residents struggle with utility bills, Deal emphasized robust support programs like Project COPE and LEAP and encouraged anyone in need to reach out to the organization’s empathetic, locally based customer service team.
Staying Engaged and Informed: For those eager to learn more, Colorado Springs Utilities offers resources on its website (csu.org), regular public meetings, and annual events like the State of the Utility address. Deal encouraged residents to stay engaged—not just for better service, but to be active voices in shaping how these essential services evolve.
Building for the Next Generation: As El Paso County grows and changes, the team at Colorado Springs Utilities is laser-focused on anticipating needs, stewarding resources, and empowering the community. “We have to continue to do what our ancestors did for us and have that equipment, infrastructure, [and] resources there for the long term—for the next hundred years,” Deal concluded. It’s a reminder that good utility work doesn’t just power the present—it lays the foundation for the future.
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