Use of decreasing block rate (DBR) electricity pricing is widespread for irrigation customers in the High Plains Aquifer region

Map of seven states overlying the High Plains Aquifer underneath parts of those states. The map indicates where the study area took place in eastern Colorado, and the areas using decreasing block rate pricing and areas not using DBR pricing.

More than half of electricity cooperatives in the High Plains Aquifer area use a system called decreasing block rate (DBR) pricing for irrigation customers. An analysis in two eastern Colorado cooperatives, however, show that the cooperatives’ use of DBR pricing increases groundwater use by about 11 percent compared with a uniform electricity pricing scenario.


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