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The PUC regulates Black Hills Energy and Xcel Energy, which both have Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) plans that have been or could be implemented, impacting consumers. PSPS events have planned outages for customers and may also have other storm-related outages.
PSPS events are implemented in order to reduce the risk of a wildfire caused by power lines or other utility infrastructure. The Public Utilities Commission does not approve or deny Black Hills or Xcel Energy the use of proactive shutoffs; however, the PUC does have an important role in ensuring that the communication, preparation and coordination of PSPS events is protective of customers.
The PUC is creating a new set of rules establishing permanent requirements and standards for public safety power shutoffs. Staff is currently working to draft these rules and welcomes input from Black Hills and Xcel Energy customers on their experiences with the most recent PSPS events. This information will help ensure that the PUC’s rules are comprehensive.
Please take a few minutes to give us your feedback through the survey or comment links below.
Please take a few minutes to give us your feedback through the survey or comment links below.
The PUC regulates Black Hills Energy and Xcel Energy, which both have Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) plans that have been or could be implemented, impacting consumers. PSPS events have planned outages for customers and may also have other storm-related outages.
PSPS events are implemented in order to reduce the risk of a wildfire caused by power lines or other utility infrastructure. The Public Utilities Commission does not approve or deny Black Hills or Xcel Energy the use of proactive shutoffs; however, the PUC does have an important role in ensuring that the communication, preparation and coordination of PSPS events is protective of customers.
The PUC is creating a new set of rules establishing permanent requirements and standards for public safety power shutoffs. Staff is currently working to draft these rules and welcomes input from Black Hills and Xcel Energy customers on their experiences with the most recent PSPS events. This information will help ensure that the PUC’s rules are comprehensive.
Please take a few minutes to give us your feedback through the survey or comment links below.
Please take a few minutes to give us your feedback through the survey or comment links below.
Have feedback for the PUC about a recent Public Safety Power Shutoff? Feel free to share here. Please note: This info will be public for other users to see.
Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Share December 2025 shutoff on FacebookShare December 2025 shutoff on TwitterShare December 2025 shutoff on LinkedinEmail December 2025 shutoff link
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... Continue reading
Share Spotty illogical outage on FacebookShare Spotty illogical outage on TwitterShare Spotty illogical outage on LinkedinEmail Spotty illogical outage link
I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction over the power outage that affected northwest Arvada in December 2025. I've waited to write to calm down and gather my thoughts. I feel this outage was a mess.
The December 2025 Excel power outage was a disaster. Sure it made Xcel comfortable. I had power Wednesday Dec. 17th and Thursday Dec. 18th, but then lost power Friday morning Dec. 19th at 5:45 a.m. when there was not a breath of wind in my neighborhood. The outage continued for the next 28 hours while my neighborhood, the... Continue reading
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On Wednesday, December 17th, at 10am, power to both my home and my place of business was shut off. I am a hairdresser, and I was fully booked for hair services during the week before Christmas. I was able to work 4 1/2 hours on that Wednesday, even without power. My salon is in the Dakota Ridge neighborhood, and we have a lot of natural light through two sides of the storefront windows. I brought in an oil lamp in anticipation of the shutdown. People didn’t seem to mind that their hair couldn’t be blown dry. They were just happy... Continue reading
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I was without power for 5 days and received NO notification of the planned outage. A text message, like the ones sent after the outage was in its 3rd hour, would have been ideal in order to prepare. I was also working on my Master finals and had no power to Starlink.
I have a small generator that thankfully pulled enough to keep water, food, and heat on. However, it is a pull start and my fused hands to wrist could NOT get it started. After 4.5 hrs someone arrived to pull start the generator for me. Day 3 it... Continue reading
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The Public Safety shutdown caused considerable inconvenience to our family. It was problematic because of the inconsistency of the information on the shutdown. We initially were told that service would shut down early on Wednesday and resume later in the evening. While inconvenient, it did not require special action. Our refrigerator and freezer would maintain temperature for that amount of time. The hot water tank would stay hot and the in-house temperature would stay habitable for that amount of time. The resumption of service time, however, continued to change throughout the day. By end of day, we knew we would... Continue reading
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I am a Larimer County native of 47 years. I have never experienced any power shutoffs similar to Xcel Energy’s PSPS. Colorado is dry and windy. The weather hasn’t changed. Now there have been 2 PSPS “events” in less than a months time! Unacceptable. The head of Xcel Colorado is too risk averse. Xcel clearly needs to update their equipment instead of punishing their customers. I also find it interesting that the wealthy neighborhoods are spared from the shut offs. This is ridiculous. This should not be allowed. Customers should be refunded handsomely for the headaches caused.
Share Excel need competition. on FacebookShare Excel need competition. on TwitterShare Excel need competition. on LinkedinEmail Excel need competition. link
WE lost power on April 24th, and numerous times in December. We lost all of our food in the Freezer in April lost $1000.00 of food and most stuff in refrigerator. They willy nilly shut off the power this December. . No warning given just boom no power . Shut off power numbers times in a day. Could not be sure how to plan holidays and prepare without steady power. Excell needs to stop punishing the Marshall fire people. We could look out our window and see the rest of Louisville with lights. You just gave them another raise in... Continue reading
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I was affected by the non communicated April 2024 shut down as well. At least this time, they communicated this shut down using their pre-built notification system. However, unlike April 2024, there was no wind near me that justified this shut down. I had 40-50 mile gusts.
These ”safety“ shut downs are clearly used because Xcel has not done the maintenance work to harden their infrastructure.
the PUC needs to get off its high horse about renewable energy and focus on reliability. Xcel needs to service ratepayers with reliable energy.
Share Time to Replace Xcel on FacebookShare Time to Replace Xcel on TwitterShare Time to Replace Xcel on LinkedinEmail Time to Replace Xcel link
Xcel should not be allowed to continue to have a monopoly providing energy for the good people of Colorado. For a utility, people have no choice for their power provider. Xcel has proven themselves to be bad at their job and its time to replace them with a non-profit electric and natural gas provider who can get the job done. Xcel is a for-profit entity and I don't believe their focus is in the right place to keep our lights on and our homes heated. They should be re-investing what we pay in to improve the infrastructure. It is unacceptable... Continue reading
Share Poor communication, broader than necessary outage on FacebookShare Poor communication, broader than necessary outage on TwitterShare Poor communication, broader than necessary outage on LinkedinEmail Poor communication, broader than necessary outage link
Inaccurate and conflicting messages kept coming through. For the part of Tennessee in which we live was not affected dramatically by winds and the 120 home community we live in has Underground wiring. Was it really necessary to cut our communities power?
