January 28, 2026 03:07 PM UTC

Koch Fiends Lure Poor Coloradans With Utility Bill Gateway Drug

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• by: Colorado Pols

As we’ve been saying for some time now, fighting back against Colorado’s biggest utility Xcel Energy and their constant runs at the state’s Public Utilities Commission seeking rate increases to pay for infrastructure that benefits big corporate power guzzlers over individual energy consumers is good politics, in addition to the good moral fight on behalf of financially beleaguered Colorado households. It’s therefore not surprising to see Republican-leaning political groups like the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity and their Spanish-language counterpart Libre Initiative appropriating the issue to recruit new supporters from the ranks of the politically uninitiated.

But a gimmick for Libre Initiative’s operation in the Eighth Congressional District, which is funded whether residents are aware or not to build infrastructural support for America’s Most Vulnerable Incumbent™ Rep. Gabe Evans, caught our eye for its straightforward appeal to the pocketbooks of cash-strapped working families:

There’s nothing expressly illegal we know of about a nonprofit organization holding a drawing to pay somebody’s utility bill. But there’s also nothing here to tip off the average self-interested ratepayer that turning out for a chance at paid heat and power for a month drops you into the Americans For Prosperity “grassroots activist” development pipeline–where you’ll soon enough find yourself on the canvass beat to support Rep. Gabe Evans and the rest of AFP’s endorsed candidate slate.

The kicker, of course, is that the last thing these “free market conservatives” really want is a robust PUC holding utilities accountable while upholding the state’s ambitious clean energy goals that voters have backed repeatedly, both in renewable energy mandate ballot measures and support for Democratic candidates. Volunteers will quickly discover that AFP’s energy agenda is unapologetically pro-fossil fuel, and their support for “affordability” pretty much boils down to burning more coal.

But by the time you figure that out, you’ll be a statistic that AFP presents to their funders for another few million! Which they’ll get no matter how futile the expenditure.

Is it honest? Not particularly. But in a blue state like ours, Koch money has to get creative.