Beyond Furious - Borderline Criminal Behavior

This planned power outage, done "for my safety", has been one of the most unbelievable things I've ever experienced. Wind has existed since the beginning of time, and Colorado has had a power grid for over a century. Yet not until 2024/2025 has the power ever been intentionally shut off because it is windy.

I work from home full time and not have any power was extremely disruptive. I lost almost two days of work during 27 hours without power. My mom, who lives with us, has neck and back issues and, due to the temperature of the house decreasing to 55°F, she was shivering and was awake all night starting at midnight. My wife uses a CPAP machine and she could not even stay in her own house for the night as she had to have electricity. I stayed at the cold and dark house with my mom and our pets, making sure they were staying warm.

To add insult to injury, for the vast majority of the day, there was barely even a breeze outside. The wind was stronger on Tuesday than it was on Wednesday. Xcel said they shut off the power because the winds were forecasted to be strong. That is like canceling school when snow is forecasted, and the next day is just rains.

But whether it was windy or not, intentionally shutting off the power to tens of thousands of residents, particularly in December, is beyond unacceptable and, in my opinion, borderline criminal behavior. The disruption, challenges, and difficulties caused by intentionally shutting off our power in 2025 is ridiculous.

Fires are a risk, true. But life comes with risks. We do not need Xcel Energy "protecting us" by sending us back to the 19th century. They should be using their record profits and burying powerlines susceptible to high winds and/or adding equipment to shut off the power instantly if there is a downed power line. Xcel Energy is a power company. Their job is not to provide for our "safety" in this situation. Their job is provide power to their customers.

I sincerely hope the Colorado PUC and/or Colorado legislature will take steps to prevent Xcel from being allowed to intentionally shut off our power in the future because it is windy. This is going to set a precedent in which they can shut off our power whenever they arbitrarily decide there is a "safety risk" to keeping it on. Whatever they decide that means. And Coloradans will have to navigate life in a third world equivalent of "I wonder when the power will be on and when it will be shut off". Something we've never had to deal with in the past.

My disappointment in Xcel Energy cannot realistically be expressed in a post. But I hope and pray this is the last PSPS that is every allowed to take place. It is the 21st century and this is the richest country on earth. We should never have to deal with intentional power outages. Period.