While there is an increased cost to upgrade and maintain the water system next year, the overall utilities budget is the lowest in recent history -- nearly $42 million less than our 2018 budget. This is the result of hard work by employees to reprioritize planned projects as well as lower projected fuel costs.

Increased water funding supports a significant upgrade to the Phillip H. Tollefson Water Treatment Plant, pictured above, and ongoing work to repair and replace water mains throughout the city.  Like many utilities across the nation, our water and wastewater systems are old and in need of ongoing repair and refurbishment.

To learn more about planned work for 2019, visit csu.org and review the 2019 Annual Operating and Financial Plan.

Your business energy use is changing. Our vision for how we generate and deliver that energy is changing too.

Over the next six months, we will work closely with our Utilities Board, the Utilities Policy Advisory Committee, members of the community and you -- our customers -- to draft a plan that will set forth a vision for a dynamic, sustainable, clean energy future.

This vision will allow us to better serve you and incorporate important issues like protecting our natural resources, supporting clean energy and transportation, building a more resilient system, growing energy efficiency, empowering energy choice and driving economic development in the Pikes Peak region.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to learn about how you can participate in this process.

Insulate to avoid frozen pipes

A Colorado winter means shorts one day and down jackets the next. Don't get left in the cold on the most frigid days with frozen or broken water pipes. Use these tips to avoid a soggy winter:

Visit csu.org for more tips on what to do if a pipe freezes or breaks.