Residents in Westcliffe, Silver Cliff, and parts of the Oak Creek Grade that are provided electricity by Black Hills Energy will be seeing a 6.7% increase in their power bills due to an approved increase in rates. Power companies like Black Hills Energy are not allowed to raise rates when they desire. Instead, they must get approval through the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to receive the requested rate increase. In March, the PUC allowed Black Hills to increase rates. However, it was less than the $25 million the company had requested in 2024. Black Hills Energy is a South Dakota-based business that has 309,000 customers in Southern Colorado, including larger cities like CaƱon City, Florence, and Pueblo. Still, it does branch out to smaller…