Xcel's Colorado customers get a break on bills, thanks to cheaper natural gas

Monthly utility bills from Xcel Energy Inc. will get smaller over the next three months.

Xcel (NYSE: XEL) on Monday said it expects monthly utility bills that include both electricity and natural gas to drop about $9.58, or about 9 percent, for the second quarter, compared to the second quarter of 2015.

The wholesale price of natural gas — which Xcel sells to customers for their furnaces and burns to create electricity — has dropped from more than $4 per thousand cubic feet during the second…