It protects your right to keep heating and cooking with natural gas. Here's what it does — in plain English.
YES — Adds a right to the Colorado Constitution for you to buy natural gas to heat and cook in your home or business.
NO — Does not add that protection. Whether you can keep using natural gas stays up to future state and local policy.
Amendment 82 doesn't make anyone use natural gas. It protects your ability to keep using it.
Amendment 82 — Constitutional Right to Purchase and Sell Natural Gas
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution creating new law granting the right for consumers to purchase natural gas for cooking or heating in homes or businesses and for distributors and utilities to sell natural gas to consumers?
Source: Colorado Legislative Council, Ballot Analysis 2026: Amendment 82 — Text of Measure · 2026 Blue Book analysis
7 in 10 Colorado households rely on natural gas.
Decisions about the furnace in your basement and the stove in your kitchen should be yours — not an agency's. Amendment 82 keeps that choice in your hands.
Consumer Energy Alliance, Powering Progress: How Natural Gas Fuels Colorado's Communities (2025).
A Denver analysis estimated that fully electrifying an existing home can cost more than $40,000, counting the home and the utility upgrades needed to support it. On a fixed income, that's not a bill anyone can plan for.
Natural-gas households save about $1,100 a year on heating, cooking, and drying compared with all-electric homes, according to Consumer Energy Alliance. Over ten years, that difference adds up.
$40,000+: More than $40,000 per affected home, according to a Denver analysis of full electrification including home and utility-infrastructure costs. Common Sense Institute, Denver Housing Affordability Report (Feb. 2023).
About $1,100 a year: Consumer Energy Alliance, Powering Progress: How Natural Gas Fuels Colorado's Communities (2025).
Illustration: about $1,100 a year × 10 years = about $11,000, assuming the annual difference stays the same. Based on Consumer Energy Alliance's annual savings estimate.
January doesn't care about energy politics.
On an average January night, Colorado Springs drops to 18°F. When temperatures drop, Colorado leans on natural gas to keep homes warm and the energy supply steady. Amendment 82 keeps natural gas an option for Colorado families.
National Weather Service, Colorado Springs climate normals (1991–2020): January average low 18.5°F. weather.gov
No. Amendment 82 gives rights to people, not government. It limits what any government can do to take away your choice to heat and cook with natural gas — whether that decision is made at the Capitol or city hall.
Because a law or regulation can be changed by the next legislature or agency vote. Your family's heat shouldn't depend on which way the next vote goes.
No. Use any energy you want. Amendment 82 simply keeps natural gas on the list.
The nonpartisan Blue Book mailed to every Colorado voter says a YES vote on Amendment 82 "establishes a state constitutional right to purchase and sell natural gas for use in homes and businesses." It also notes it passes with 55% of the vote.
Amendment 82 comes after all the candidates and judges, near the start of the statewide measures. Keep going until you find it — and mark YES.
Every vote counts double on this one: constitutional amendments need 55% of the vote to pass, not just a majority.
Dates: Colorado Secretary of State, 2026 General Election calendar.
We'll send you a reminder when ballots arrive — and one before it's too late to return yours.
One more thing that helps: send this to a friend or neighbor who heats with natural gas.