Our experience of the December 2025 Shut Offs

My husband is 81 and I am 72. We experienced a great deal of stress and anxiety during the shut offs. We lost power overnight on Tuesday, and then for a much longer period beginning Friday morning. Although the temperatures weren't below freezing, it became quite cold in our home, and we were forced to get in bed for warmth early. We had to buy a propane camp stove so we could boil water and do some basic cooking. Xcel let us know by phone and text that there would be an outage, although it wasn't enough time to prepare. The whole thing was very, very inconvenient, and we are both still extremely anxious about future shut offs, especially in cold weather when we would be without heat. We did have some food spoilage. We have battery-powered lanterns that we bought after the April shut off so we were prepared in that way. These shutoffs don't seem like a viable solution. Why can't this billion dollar corporation get on the ball and do the upgrades that are needed such as burying the power lines and reinforcing the poles that are ancient and rotting? My husband saw the downed lines on Highway 66, and the old poles had snapped at the base. I don't understand why Boulder doesn't municipalize our power so that we aren't dependent on an uncaring corporation that is merely trying to protect themselves from more lawsuits due to their negligence. Longmont did not cut the power off for anyone, but Xcel is not their provider.