Start and Stop—What Xcel needs to take advantage of

Our power was off aboutv20 hours, on for about 20, then off again for >24 hours. I would rather be without power than have my house burn down. But I sympathize with those who remind us that these stronggwinds have been around hereveverybwinter for many years (ever since I moved here in 1974) and Xcel has done less than enough to harden its infrastructure. ”It’s too expensive” solves nothing. And that kind of rigid thinking might be in the way of finding opportunities.

Forvexample, 2 years ago in the Mapleton Hill area and just north of historic district, we endured more than a year of dug up streets while the gas lines were being replaced. What a perfect opportunity to do some joint trenching and bury power lines in all those areas where streets were already dug up. Yes it would have taken communication and planning between utility providers and engineers, and yes there would have been incremental excavationnlabor and materials and inspections. But it could have been “one and done” at a cost far less than digging up separate trenches at different times.