December 2025 shutoff

I completely agree that utility shutdowns may need to occur to save our mountain towns from a fire disaster.

However, our foothills communities received a notice of an 8 hour shutdown, which we all know how to handle. What actually happened was over 4+ days! of silence and blackout - no power, no internet, no phone service. Those of us who are mobile drove to Denver periodically to find out what was happening. We shared the info as best we could. (There was almost none to share until the last day when they put up a very complete website.) Xcel is lucky that none of the folks who are ill, old, have babies or are without transportation or resources did not die while this chaos continued. They had no way to reach out for help. I didn't know of resources or safety venues and most others didn't either. Personally I spent approximately $500 on hotels, food loss, heat and lighting resources that was unnecessary with correct planning.

I'm writing to the PUC to deny a rate increase in our utilities.

Until the experience of a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. Xcel management should be held accountable for their failure of planning/communication that any one of us could have done with very little effort. It felt like the bosses had lunch, thought a shutdown would prevent a fire ( hopefully it will), and left without ANY thought of what their customers might need or what else might be needed.

Although it won't happen, every customer in the shutdown area should receive a substantial credit on their Xcel bill or reimbursement of costs.

The community paid for Xcel's safety from liability. We should not allow a rate increase of any kind until Xcel demonstrates responsible management and resource use from it's own funds.