Ambiguity Causes Wasted Time and Energy

I want safety for everyone, but Xcel is taking limiting their liability over the top. This entire event should be a case study in CYA gone awry.

Xcel overcommunicated and WAY overestimated the areas that would be included in the PSPS in their original communication causing our family and probably others to needlessly worry and spend our time prepping for what their communications made seem like a certainty but never materialized. I spent my time prepping and stressing about something that became a non-event. I have enough other stuff in my life to deal with rather than worrying about an Xcel caused power outage that would disrupt our lives for days and then having to plan and spend resources on it that are ultimately wasted.

We did lose power for a few hours the first day, after being told we were no longer in the PSPS area. We received so many communications from telling us they didn't know when the power would be back on, that crews were assessing, only to have the power come back on an hour before they said it would (which I appreciate very much). The way the communicate, the frequency of it, and the ambiguity makes it seem like they are incompetent and flying by the seat of their pants as a company.

This summer their subcontractors came through shredding the trees in our neighborhood, decreasing curb appeal and property value all in the name of safety, and I thought to mitigate events like this PSPS. In the first 5 years we lived in our home we rarely lost power or had a flicker. Now that they have been "making their network more resilient" we have power outages and flickers more frequently.

Xcel would rather work on large infrastructure projects like the Colorado Power Pathway then doing projects that actually matter to their rate payers. They need to focus on burying as many lines in as many areas as they can (urban neighborhoods, power lines running along the foothills) to make life better for the majority. I understand not all lines in all places can be buried at a reasonable cost, but they're not even trying in areas that would make sense. I would rather have a rate increase, bury my surburban area power lines, and have my power be more reliable than building a Power Pathway.

And all this at a time when they are gouging their customers with TOU pricing, Xcel's priorities are all wrong.