Colorado Springs Utilities’ natural gas customers will get a price break for three decades under a $653 million deal made Wednesday.    The typical residential user will see a savings of $1.75 per month for 30 years because of the deal, part of an overall savings of $150 million.    But because natural gas prices are expected to rise this fall, the savings could be offset with other increases, said Utilities spokesman Dave Grossman.    “This ($1.75 savings) may lessen the increase that customers may see,” he said.    The deal was executed through the Power Authority for Colorado Energy, a nonprofit created by Utilities to insulate the city from risk. The authority issued bonds to fund up to 20 percent of the city’s gas supply at a discount rate of 99 cents per million Btu. That’s better than the 50- to 70-cent discount rate city officials expected to get.    “This is a tremendous deal for our natural gas customers and is only possible because we are a municipal utility with very high bond ratings,” Joe Holmes, Utilities’ lead energy supply trader, said in a statement.    The National Energy Policy Act of 2005 allowed the issuance of taxexempt debt to finance prepaid natural gas and electricity purchases for municipal providers.    The city’s cost, including consulting and lawyer fees, was $2.1 million, Holmes said.    The gas deal is different from a long-term coal contract Utilities entered into years ago. The gas deal gives the city a set amount discounted from the going rate of gas during the agreement’s term. The coal deal locked in the coal prices, and when they plunged, Utilities had to pay the higher price.    Wholesale natural gas prices in the Rocky Mountain region have jumped more than 60 percent in the past year and are expected to rise again this fall, about the time the city begins receiving natural gas under the prepay agreement in October.    CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com 

Adam Brickley launched his blog in February 2007, before primary season had begun, promoting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate. Brickley wants to eventually move to Washington. Above, his mother, Julie, fed the goats grain at their Peyton farm. Photo by (CAROL LAWRENCE, THE GAZETTE)