‘My daughter’s on life support’: Rising rates for Colorado Springs Utilities customers raises concern for family navigating medical challenges
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) — A Colorado Springs family said they have concerns about new electric rates as they continue navigating medical challenges.
Brian Benderski said his daughter, Penny, was born with a heart condition, meaning she has had to take life slow.
But two years ago, things took a turn for the worst.
“Two years ago, we had a pulmonary hemorrhage,” he said.
He said Penny had to be airlifted to a Denver hospital, where she spent a month trying to recover, and as she did, his family was given heartbreaking news.
“They gave her weeks, maybe months to live,” he said.
But things seemed to improve from there. Penny kept going, smiling and singing her way through treatment as the family decided to keep her home on palliative hospice care.
Two years later, Benderski said she has been thriving, taking things slow, but making her way through life happy nonetheless.
“Penny is a bundle of joy. She is bubbly. She is singing constantly,” Benderski said. “She is the joy in our household that keeps us going.”
Despite her dismal prognosis, he said she enjoys life to the fullest, enjoying time with her big brother Leonard.
“Her and Leonard are each other’s best friends. He walks in the house, she lights up, has to know what he’s doing,” Benderski said.
But things haven’t been easy.
Between what Benderski described as an $80,000 helicopter ride to save her life, countless medical bills otherwise and the cost of the oxygen and other medical equipment to keep Penny alive, he said his family has been struggling financially. And he said they haven’t been in good shape to meet those challenges.
“I lost my job last July,” he said. “Overall, it’s just… it’s been a long, tough ride.”
And he said he began to worry when he got news from Colorado Springs Utilities that his rates were changing.
“We get this email from Colorado Springs Utilities that your peak rates are going up from what was double, 15 cents, to now 29 cents per kilowatt hour,” he said.
The email in question described a change to the summer rates for Colorado Springs Utilities’ new Energy Wise rates. These rates split energy usage between peak usage hours (5 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and off-peak hours, with peak hours costing more and off-peak costing less.
“And so, it’s worth mentioning that the off-peak rate that we’re referring to is lower than the previous flat rate that our customers were used to paying,” Alex Trefry with Colorado Springs Utilities said.
He said the majority of customers will see a net decrease in their bills because of these rate differences, including customers who need to run certain appliances and devices around the clock.
“When we think about equipment that is on 24/7, energy-wise rates, you’ll really pay a net less than you would on the previous flat rate, since it was higher than the off-peak rate,” he explained.
Benderski said he still had concerns, so he called Utilities to talk through his options.
During the phone call, he said he was offered the chance to switch to the flat rate, which he said would have been even more expensive, or switch to a plan that would risk his power being shut off a few times a year.
“My daughter’s on life support,” Benderski said. “I very understand why we’re doing this, like, understand the stresses on the grid. But I also have a child on life support, and having that connection is the most important.”
Benderski said he began feeling like there were no good options for his family, worried that this increase in peak hour rates could result in an even tougher financial burden for families like his.
“I feel like, as uncomfortable as it is to speak up and be the face, if me and my family and my dying child can be the ones that help others and make sure that everyone’s getting a fair chance, then I’m glad to speak up and be that advocate,” he said.
But Trefry said there are other options available.
“If any of our customers are struggling to pay their bill, we highly recommend that they contact the United Way at 211, and they can put them in touch with utility assistance programs, whether that’s assistance programs not managed by Colorado Springs Utilities or our program, Project COPE,” Trefry said.
Project COPE is a program that provides payment assistance to families and individuals struggling due to a financial crisis or emergency, according to their website.
Benderski said he was not initially made aware of those options until Trefry spoke with 11 News about them, and now that he knows about them, he will look into those in hopes of finding any financial relief that can help him give Penny the life she deserves, however long that may be.
In the meantime, his family has a fundraiser in the hopes of getting enough support to make ends meet.