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Over the weekend of April 6-7, Colorado experienced a weather event that brought wind gusts in excess of 100 mph in some areas of the state and sustained high winds throughout the weekend. The outages and weather impacts were concentrated in the northern front range. Over 150,000 people across 9 counties were without power statewide during the event. 55,000 of these were the result of an intentional, precautionary outage conducted by Xcel to reduce the possibility of wildfire. The remaining outages were either due to damage to lines or use of another preventative measures..

While power outages are a frequent impact of Colorado weather events, the April storm was the first time that Xcel pro-actively deployed preventative safety outages. In addition, a significant portion of the distribution system that would normally be set to attempt to automatically re-energize was not re-powered until visual inspection by utility crews. This precautionary measure meant a longer down period than usual as field crews had to manually inspect lines that had been de-energized. These measures are used in other western states including California and Oregon.

Please share your input and personal experience so the PUC can determine whether new regulatory approaches are necessary for precautionary outages.

Over the weekend of April 6-7, Colorado experienced a weather event that brought wind gusts in excess of 100 mph in some areas of the state and sustained high winds throughout the weekend. The outages and weather impacts were concentrated in the northern front range. Over 150,000 people across 9 counties were without power statewide during the event. 55,000 of these were the result of an intentional, precautionary outage conducted by Xcel to reduce the possibility of wildfire. The remaining outages were either due to damage to lines or use of another preventative measures..

While power outages are a frequent impact of Colorado weather events, the April storm was the first time that Xcel pro-actively deployed preventative safety outages. In addition, a significant portion of the distribution system that would normally be set to attempt to automatically re-energize was not re-powered until visual inspection by utility crews. This precautionary measure meant a longer down period than usual as field crews had to manually inspect lines that had been de-energized. These measures are used in other western states including California and Oregon.

Please share your input and personal experience so the PUC can determine whether new regulatory approaches are necessary for precautionary outages.

Share Your Experience

This was the first time in Colorado that Xcel ewnergy intentionally took power down to minimze wildfire risk during a high wind warning. This type of precautionary measure might be utilized again in the future. We want to know how notification went and what communications could be improved in the event of future events similiar to this one. Share your story here. 

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  • Share Bad Xcel Communications Again May 6-7 on Facebook Share Bad Xcel Communications Again May 6-7 on Twitter Share Bad Xcel Communications Again May 6-7 on Linkedin Email Bad Xcel Communications Again May 6-7 link

    Bad Xcel Communications Again May 6-7

    by cchapman, 8 days ago

    On April 10th, we responded to the PUC concerning the perhaps well-intentioned but disastrous implementation by Xcel of a deliberate electricity outage that affected us and tens of thousands of others in the metro Denver area. We now wish to report horribly incompetent messaging by Xcel during the 5/06 – 5/07 Xcel outage in the foothills region of Boulder County.

    We presume that the outage this time was not done purposefully by Xcel but was due to something resulting from another high-wind event, but Xcel won’t say. Possibly it was another intentional shut-down. But Xcel’s messaging was even... Continue reading

  • Share Should have been notified on Facebook Share Should have been notified on Twitter Share Should have been notified on Linkedin Email Should have been notified link

    Should have been notified

    by Caragon, 12 days ago
    We received no notice of the shut down. Nothing!! We had our grandchildren staying the night and were totally unprepared for the outage,and were left scrambling to compensate! If we had notice it wouldn't have been a problem!!
  • Share Thank You Xcel on Facebook Share Thank You Xcel on Twitter Share Thank You Xcel on Linkedin Email Thank You Xcel link

    Thank You Xcel

    by BldrNative, 14 days ago

    I have lived in the mountains for over 60 years and the risk of wildfires is nothing new to me or the generation that preceeded me. My family has fought and survived many wildfires and we know how dangerous they can be. Xcel preemptively deenergized 55,000 customes and the storm caused 100,000 additional outages. This was a serious storm that Xcel took seriously. We had winds topping 96mph and many trees blown down or damaged by the wind. Losing power for us means not only no electricity but also no water or internet. We don't have cellular signal so our... Continue reading

  • Share A newborn in the dark ages on Facebook Share A newborn in the dark ages on Twitter Share A newborn in the dark ages on Linkedin Email A newborn in the dark ages link

    A newborn in the dark ages

    by deharshman1, 17 days ago

    My wife and I live in Lafayette and we were so happy to welcome our second child on April 5, minutes before midnight in Boulder. We arrived home at 4 am and got (maybe) 30 minutes of sleep by the time we fell asleep as our 3 year old woke up excited to meet her new sister. Sleep deprived from the start with a fresh set of groceries for the weekend, we received a call form Xcel at 11:20 AM informing us that they would shut our power off until the following day around noon. After scrambling for ice, I... Continue reading

  • Share Neighbors Across Street Had Power, We Didn't on Facebook Share Neighbors Across Street Had Power, We Didn't on Twitter Share Neighbors Across Street Had Power, We Didn't on Linkedin Email Neighbors Across Street Had Power, We Didn't link

    Neighbors Across Street Had Power, We Didn't

    by Melinda, 18 days ago
    I did the family weekly shopping on Friday afternoon. Our refrigerator and freezer were full. I received an email Friday at 6:30 p.m. (which I didn't see until the next day when it was too late) saying power "may" proactively get shut off in my community. A text would have been better. I could have run out and bought a cooler and ice to protect hundreds of dollars in groceries. Another email at 10 a.m. which I also didn't see said "may" turn off power. It wasn't until 1:50 p.m. that an email was sent saying power will be shut... Continue reading
  • Share Completely unacceptable on Facebook Share Completely unacceptable on Twitter Share Completely unacceptable on Linkedin Email Completely unacceptable link

    Completely unacceptable

    by Jsjsjsj, 21 days ago

    This was horrible!! We had to leave our home. We had no heat, no way to cook, no light (rural area) and no hot water, no garage door working, no internet or phone. We took our dog and stayed in a hotel. We came home to a freezing cold house, no known time the power would be back on. Should get another hotel room? It was 3:00 pm and we had to make a decision because had to get ready for work next day. tried calling Xcel.Was on hold for over 1.5 hours. Finally go through. Rep had no information... Continue reading

  • Share Support The proposed MICROGRID in Superior Colorado on Facebook Share Support The proposed MICROGRID in Superior Colorado on Twitter Share Support The proposed MICROGRID in Superior Colorado on Linkedin Email Support The proposed MICROGRID in Superior Colorado link

    Support The proposed MICROGRID in Superior Colorado

    by Maple Ct, 23 days ago
    My small business provides consulting and development of net zero energy housing, commercial buildings and planned development communities.


    Over the past three years my small business has land banked a two small parcels of land in the heart of the former Marshall Fire also known as Original Town Superior Colorado.

    I have created a collaborative team that are unified in its approach to developing a microgrid in the Superior location described above.

    Our collaborative team intends to demonstrate the feasibility of small to large scale microgrid(s) for advancing community development while testing this small scale approach for addressing the lack... Continue reading

  • Share Lost Food and Extra Costs on Facebook Share Lost Food and Extra Costs on Twitter Share Lost Food and Extra Costs on Linkedin Email Lost Food and Extra Costs link

    Lost Food and Extra Costs

    by jjhall, 24 days ago

    Nights got too cold for our one year old. Had to get a hotel as the electricity needed to regulate the gas furnace was turned off.

    A lot of spoiled food.







  • Share People with disabilities and chronic illnesses on Facebook Share People with disabilities and chronic illnesses on Twitter Share People with disabilities and chronic illnesses on Linkedin Email People with disabilities and chronic illnesses link

    People with disabilities and chronic illnesses

    by JO, 24 days ago
    People with disabilities and chronic health conditions requiring access to electricity need a lot of advance warning, and in some cases assistance planning for outages. These measures need to be implemented BEFORE an electricity emergency, and should have a thorough preparatory system in place by the electricity provider. I have insulin-dependent diabetes, and insulin requires refrigeration. If I were without working insulin, I would die within 24 hours. If my electricity goes out, my insulin could spoil very quickly, as well. Insulin is also a very expensive resource (even with recently implemented price controls) and health insurers are resistant to... Continue reading
  • Share Lack Of Communication on Facebook Share Lack Of Communication on Twitter Share Lack Of Communication on Linkedin Email Lack Of Communication link

    Lack Of Communication

    by atlantis3, 25 days ago
    Our power went out Friday night at 9:23pm. We were without electricity for four days. We didi not receive any communication until Sunday afternoon and no indication when power would be restored. Had we been told of the shutdown we could have done something differently. By the time we received communication there were no generators available for rent. Food was lost and we were emotionally drained. In the future we would appreciate advanced warning so we could be prepared. Power was finally restored on Tuesday at 4:00pm.
Page last updated: 08 May 2024, 12:04 PM