Frivolous, ridiculous, unneccesary outage. Anti-student, anti-consumer

This writing is an opinion.

We were told our power would potentially be cut at 10 AM and return at 6 PM on 12/17. I thought it would not really be an issue, because I live in a suburb away from the front range and where this alleged issue is happening (more than an hour away). All of our power lines are underground. Our winds are not high today. Well - 10 AM hit and I along with 50 000 other Coloradans had our power cut anyway. "No problem" -- I foolishly thought at the beginning of the day. I have dealt with power outages before and could make it 8 hours. Fast forward through the day -- Xcel's own outage checker tool never showed any updates, only the very impersonal "check back in 20 minutes" prompt. At around 10 PM on 12/17, I tried to check the outage checker which has since gone offline. At the time of writing (11:30PM) -- I still do not have power more than 13 hours later.

This is overtly negligent and poor service on behalf of Xcel. All of the food in my fridge is now spoiled (on garbage day after my trash has been picked up, where I had to drag my garbage can through my home today because the power on the garage is out). I am disgusted thinking about dealing with the rotting food smell coming from my trash for the next week. And of course, at a time where many Colorado residents are finding themselves suddenly unable to afford the same groceries that they have bought for years, what a slap in the face it is to know that Xcel very impersonally and crudely covers its own self by throwing a "not liable" disclaimer for food loss on its responsibilities webpage.

I am devastated for the people who have medical devices connected to their home power; for hospitals and or smaller elderly care facilities who were probably more affected by this frivolous, anti-consumer outage than I could have ever possibly been. I think of the schools and local businesses which were needlessly closed in my area and other similar unaffected areas, whose students and clients were not given a chance today. I'm sure the wealthy neighborhoods nearby have plenty of power (they never seem to have an issue).

I am shocked and surprised that Xcel energy, sitting at a $45 billion net worth, cannot figure this out for the hundreds of thousands of people who need it. There is absolutely no reason that my area, which had low wind today and was out of the line of danger, is still sitting powerless 13 hours later. Xcel now says this could last into Friday and offers no real resolution or close date. I am looking into solar generators as of today. I no longer wish to be treated like the lowest common denominator by Xcel and the other increasingly consolidated consumer options of today, who could clearly not care less about the customer experience.

Xcel needs to immediately work with the Colorado government to address a permanent solution. The current solution -- shut off as many peoples' power as Xcel deems necessary with no announced end time -- is unacceptable. If the issue is overhead power lines, then please have Xcel go ahead and do their work to resolve those overhead power lines. It is clear that the extreme weather and winds are going to continue -- we can't just keep having Xcel shut our power off at will. Please do better; we the taxpaying citizens of Colorado will continue to seek more reliable alternative options for power if this continues.