Park City approves clean-energy program with new monthly utility fee
A Park City home will see a $4 monthly utility charge for clean power, with low-income residents exempt and an opt-out window before billing starts in 2027.
A Park City household will soon see a new $4 charge on its monthly electric bill in exchange for a cleaner power option tied to new solar, wind, geothermal and battery-storage projects. Businesses will pay a usage-based rate, and the first notices are expected in late 2026 before a new line item begins appearing on bills about 60 days later, in early 2027.
The City Council unanimously approved the Community Clean Energy Program on April 30, moving Park City into a statewide effort that city sustainability staff say is designed to give customers another electricity choice while creating a more competitive clean-energy rate. The council’s ordinance was listed as Ordinance 2026-06. Once the program begins, customers in participating communities will have six months to opt out without penalty, and low-income residents are exempt from the extra fees, including any termination fee for opting out.
The program is meant to do more than buy credits on paper. Its structure is built around actual infrastructure investment, with the goal of net-100% renewable electricity for participants through annual accounting. That means the communities aim to put enough clean energy onto the grid over the course of a year to match overall electricity use, rather than relying only on voluntary offsets. Supporters say that is the metric that will determine whether the program delivers real carbon reductions or just a billing change.
Park City joins Summit County in backing the regional plan, and the effort now includes 19 Utah communities, according to Utah Renewable Communities. The coalition says it formed in 2021, but the legal groundwork goes back to 2019, when the Legislature passed the Community Renewable Energy Act. The law was renamed the Community Clean Energy Act in spring 2024. Utah Renewable Communities says the initiative began its own procurement process for clean-energy resources in November 2024, and the Public Service Commission approved the solicitation request in May 2025.
State approval came on March 4, 2026, when the Utah Public Service Commission approved the program application. Communities that adopted the participation ordinance by June 2, 2026, were set to automatically enroll Rocky Mountain Power customers. Utah Renewable Communities says the participating communities represent roughly one-quarter of the utility’s customers in Utah, giving the program the scale it needs to influence future energy purchases.
For Park City leaders, the tradeoff is straightforward: a small added cost on residential bills in exchange for a stake in a much larger regional push toward cleaner power. Luke Cartin, the city’s director of lands and sustainability, has called the program complex but beneficial and said it gives customers another option. Whether the added $4 a month can materially move Park City’s climate targets will depend on how much clean energy the coalition actually brings online, and how closely those annual renewable-energy promises match what residents use at home.
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