Utilities Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Colorado law says, what's specific to Denver - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- C.R.S. § 38-12-510 treats a willful utility shutoff as unlawful removal, not a penalty for late rent.
- You get actual damages plus three times monthly rent or $5,000, whichever is greater.
- Attorney fees and costs are recoverable, and a court may order your possession restored.
- Removing doors, windows or locks for anything but repair or maintenance counts as unlawful removal too.
- Our record of Denver law shows no separate shutoff rule; Denver 311 takes housing complaints.
Understanding the Utilities Clause
This page is for Denver renters reading the utilities paragraph of a lease, or sitting without power or water right now. In a Denver lease the clause usually puts Xcel Energy in your name for gas and power, with Denver Water and trash billed back to you or folded into rent.
Splitting those bills is all the clause can do. Below is what Colorado law says about a shutoff, what to check before you sign, and what to do in the first hours of an outage.
What renters assume
If I fall behind on rent, losing the power is just the next consequence.
What is actually true
Colorado files a willful shutoff under unlawful removal, the same category as changing your locks. Your rent balance does not change that.
Colorado sits near the top of this chart, and only New York City's $10,000 is higher. An Atlanta landlord risks a $500 fine that goes to the state and pays the tenant nothing, and Chicago's bad-faith damages stop at $300 per tenant - in Denver the floor is $5,000 in your pocket.
Utilities Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Denver, CO
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
Upon Tenant’s request, Landlord will provide a copy of the actual utility bill for the property. In addition, Landlord will make available an accounting of the utility bill prorations.
Quoted from the published opinion in Kutscheid v. Emerald Square Properties, Inc., 770 N.W.2d 529 (Minn. Ct. App. 2009). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“Landlord will provide a copy”
A copy, on request, after the fact. C.R.S. § 38-12-510 has nothing to say about that - its subject is the landlord who willfully terminates the service, not the landlord who explains the bill badly. Which means the only moment this promise can be improved is before you sign it.
“utility bill for the property”
The property, not the apartment. Kutscheid is what that gap can cost: the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that promising the property's bill on request did not satisfy the pre-lease disclosure its own statute demanded, and the tenant's winter charges ran to more than double the top of the range a leasing agent had quoted her. Colorado's own statute here is a shutoff provision rather than a disclosure one, so it answers a different question than the one your bill raises. In Denver the allocation basis is a lease term or it is nothing.
See the example
“make available”
Weaker than it looks, and worth setting beside what Colorado does make mandatory. C.R.S. § 38-12-510 puts willfully terminating utilities in the same category as taking off the doors, windows or locks other than for repair or maintenance - unlawful removal or exclusion of a tenant. It is not framed as a service dispute. It is treated as an eviction carried out without a court.
“the utility bill prorations”
The proration is the number you actually pay, and it is the number no statute on this page defines. What Colorado defines is the price of switching the service off: actual damages plus three times the monthly rent or $5,000, whichever is greater, with fees and costs, and possession restorable by the court. Compare Washington and California, where the same wrong pays actual damages plus up to $100 a day with no ceiling. Colorado front-loads it into one figure instead.
See the example
A promise to show you the bill later is not disclosure. The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed. The addendum allocated the building's gas bill by share of rentable square footage and its water and sewer bill equally among the units - that is the court's own description of the formula, not the lease's words - and it promised the actual bill on request. That did not satisfy Minn. Stat. § 504B.215, subd. 2a(1), which requires the landlord of a single-metered residential building that bills utilities separately from rent to give prospective tenants, before they sign, the total utility cost for the whole building for each month of the most recent calendar year. A leasing agent's statement that the tenant's own unit averaged $60 to $80 a month was insufficient, and disclosure after signing was irrelevant. Her actual charges ran $168.18 for December 2007, $171.39 for January 2008 and $170.67 for February 2008. The court also held that the treble-damages remedy in § 504B.221(a) does not reach this violation, and remanded for actual damages - a clean win on the rule, and a much smaller one on the money.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Colorado Law on Utilities Clause
- Willfully terminating utilities counts as unlawful removal or exclusion of a tenant.
- Willfully removing doors, windows, or locks other than for repair or maintenance is treated the same way.
- The tenant is awarded actual damages plus statutory damages of three times the monthly rent or $5,000, whichever is greater.
- Attorney fees and costs are recoverable, and a court may order possession restored.
Sources include C.R.S. § 38-12-510 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Copy and send: As soon as service is off and the utility tells you the account was closed or cut
Ask for the service back in writing
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
Colorado's rule on utility shutoffs and lockouts is C.R.S. § 38-12-510, and it has four parts:
- Shutoffs. Willfully terminating your utilities counts as unlawful removal or exclusion of a tenant.
- Doors, windows and locks. Willfully removing them for anything other than repair or maintenance is treated the same way.
- Damages. You are awarded actual damages plus statutory damages of three times the monthly rent or $5,000, whichever is greater.
- Fees and possession. Attorney fees and costs are recoverable, and a court may order your possession restored.
The two numbers cross at about $1,667 a month in rent. Below that, the $5,000 floor is the bigger figure. Above it, three times rent is bigger, so the award grows with your rent instead of shrinking against it.
What's Specific to Denver
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Our record of Denver law shows no separate city rule on utility shutoffs. The city does add two tools.
Every landlord renting a home here must hold a residential rental license, and Denver 311 routes housing complaints to the Department of Public Health and Environment. In older Capitol Hill, Baker and Five Points buildings, heat often runs off one boiler on the owner's account.
Newer lease-ups tend to put Xcel in your name and bill water back by formula.
It should list gas, electric, water, sewer and trash line by line, with the account holder for each.
A fair lease shows how a shared charge is worked out. Ask to see the master bill before signing.
Red flag. Under § 38-12-510 a willful shutoff is unlawful removal, whatever your balance.
Ask for it struck before you sign, so the lease does not read as giving up the damages § 38-12-510 provides.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- C.R.S. § 38-12-510, read on codes.findlaw.com. Colorado publishes its official statutes through LexisNexis; there is no free government edition. FindLaw marks its copy of this section current as of January 1, 2025; Colorado publishes its official statutes through LexisNexis, so confirm the current text before relying on it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
-
Shutoff tied to rent balance
Any wording linking your utilities to what you owe. In Colorado a willful termination is unlawful removal, whatever the balance.
-
Utility accounts left unnamed
The clause never says whose name Xcel Energy or Denver Water sits in. If the account is the owner's, you cannot confirm it is paid.
-
Unexplained water or trash billback
You pay a share of a building meter with no formula shown. Ask for the master bill and the math in writing before your first payment.
-
Waiver of interruption claims
Language signing away damages for lost service. Ask for it struck before you sign.
-
Right to pull locks or doors
A clause letting management remove locks, doors or windows outside repairs. Colorado treats that the same as a utility shutoff.
Your Rights as a Denver Tenant
-
A shutoff is unlawful removal
Willfully terminating your utilities is removal or exclusion under C.R.S. § 38-12-510, not a billing consequence.
-
The greater of two numbers
Actual damages plus three times monthly rent or $5,000, whichever is larger. Above about $1,667 rent, a higher rent means a bigger award.
-
Fees and costs come back
Attorney fees and costs are recoverable on top of the damages.
-
Your home back
A court may order your possession restored, along with the money.
What To Do - Step by Step
Time-stamp the outage
Photograph the dark fixtures, the thermostat and the cold tap when it starts. Write down the date and time.
Call Xcel or Denver Water
Ask whether the account was closed and who closed it. That one call separates a grid outage from a deliberate shutoff.
Ask the landlord in writing
Text or email that service is out and ask when it will be back. Keep every reply.
Check the rental license
Look up whether your landlord holds a Denver residential rental license.
Report it to 311
Denver 311 routes housing complaints to the Department of Public Health and Environment.
Get advice before you settle
A court can restore possession and award the statutory damages plus fees. Talk to a lawyer before you trade that for a rent credit.
Why renters trust LeaseDecoded
Frequently Asked Questions
Utilities rules near Colorado
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
Was this guide helpful?Your answer is anonymous and helps us fix what is unclear.