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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) customers are going to have to start shelling out more cash to keep their homes warm and lit.

On March 8, city council approved an Electric Cost Adjustment and a Natural Gas Cost Adjustment for Colorado Springs Utilities.

Dave Grossman, a spokesman for CSU, said rate adjustments are used to compensate for the changes in the fuel market.

"Fuel cost adjustments are a way that all utilities use to balance the revenue with expenses for fuel costs," Grossman said.

He said in the past CSU has been able to lower the rates for customers.

"Last year we saw both the costs for natural gas and coal be lower than we were expecting, and so we were able to reduce costs for natural gas four times in 2010, and the last time we changed the electric cost adjustment was in 2009 and that was a decrease as well," Grossman said.

But he added that with the rising costs of coal and natural gas, CSU now needs to adjust customer rates higher.

"We're seeing the cost for coal, and natural gas, and purchase power be a little bit higher than we expected," Grossman said. "Which means we need to adjust rates so we can make our revenues equal expenses for fuel costs."

Grossman said CSU looks at making cost adjustments several times a year.

He said average residential customers can expect their electric bills to increase by $1.50 a month and their natural gas bills to increase by $5.69 a month.

The Electric Cost Adjustment goes into effect Tuesday, March 15 and the Gas Cost Adjustment will go into effect April 1.

Grossman said those seeing larger than usual bills now most likely have the cold snap Colorado Springs went through last month to blame.

"The weather really has a large effect on customers' bills, and it actually has a lot more of an effect than rate changes do," Grossman said. "Keep in mind that as we're moving into the warmer summer months and people start to use less natural gas, their furnaces are running less, because their consumption is down their bills will be down, so their bills will actually be lower in the coming months."

Still some say now is not the time for any increase.

"Obviously not happy about it with everything else going up, gas especially. It's just another bite into the budget," CJ Roe, a Colorado Springs resident, said.

Others agreed.

"There's enough unemployed in town and trouble as there is already, I think the city should probably be figuring out a way to lower the utility bills or help with the utility bills," Colorado Springs resident James Thomas said. "I think raising them is a pretty poor answer, especially with the dispensary buildings and all the other money they're pulling in around town."

CSU does offer programs to help customers who may not be able to afford their bills such as Project COPE and LEAP.  

They also offer a program called "Budget Billing" which keeps rates constant for customers over the year. 

                                                    Current Rate               Approved New Rate

Electric Cost Adjustment                $0.0067 per kWh          $0.0020 per kWh

Gas Cost Adjustment                     $0.1499 per Ccf            $0.0550 per Ccf