Safety Devices

Since the Marshall fire, which started the PSPS's, Xcel has installed and upgraded many power line safety devices such as breakers and re-closers. The new devices can be set to wildfire mode which makes them very sensitive.

Rather than shutting down the power to everyone in a PSPS zone, leave the power on and let the safety devices do their job. The safety device pinpoints where the problem is and makes it faster for the crews to find the problems and repair them.

In a PSPS situation where the power is shutoff for everyone, if there is damage to the power lines, the crews have no idea where the damage is. Then the crews end up wasting so much time inspecting hundreds of miles of perfectly good power lines before they can be re-energized.

The PSPS's should be eliminated. It's a really bad policy. The PUC should implement a fine for many millions of dollars everytime Xcel does a PSPS, because right now there is no incentive for Xcel to keep the power on or make it more reliable. And really, I encourage everyone to have their town or city municipalize their electic utilites. Nothing good comes from being forced to buy power from a company that is beholden to their stock holders.

Xcel claimed to have 200 crews standing by to restore power. I drove around for miles and didn't see a single one. Liars.