My Family's Story

My family has my wife, a 4 year old daughter, 10 year old autistic son, 12 year old son and we live at Wadsworth and C-470.

My Facts & Timeline

We received a phone call at approximately 4/6 at about 11:30 am from XCel indicating that our power was going to be shutdown to an incoming windstorm. In the 25 years I've lived in Southwest Littleton and 45 years in Denver, I had never heard of a "Preventative Shutdown" on power. In addition, while my house is approximately 15 years old, the subdivision area is Columbine which has been around since the 1960's. The message on social platforms was indicating XCel expected to be back up around 12:00 pm on 4/7.

Power went out at 3:18 on 4/6. My family and I went to church and came back at around 6:30. My autistic son had meltdown and we moved my 4 & 10 year old out Highlands Ranch to spend the night due to stress involved in the household. My wife and oldest remained in the house where the temperature dipped into the high 40's.

On 4/7, the deadline at noon came and went but there was an update on the XCel website that power would be restored at 4:45. I did see two XCel trucks at 2:15 at Platte Canyon and C-470 giving me hope that the deadline would be met. That deadline came and went. I had a business trip the next day so decision was I spend an additional night in Highlands Ranch with my daughter because my mother could take care of my daughter. My wife remained with sons. Approximately 8:15, my autistic son had another meltdown and the decision was for my sons and wife would go to hotel due to school/work commitments the next day.

At some point on 4/8, the power was restored in the afternoon. However, the house was in disarray due to food, heat and stress levels, the family decided to spend another night in the hotel.

The Opinion in 2024

The preventative nature of the decision making does make sense. It appears that XCel was mitigating liablity from previous incidents in California and Colorado for people and property. However, other considerations arise. While is XCel is Public Utility, they are allowed to generate profit for their shareholders. In addition, they have been recently allowed to raise their rates by the PUC. If there as an infastructure need, that should be addressed FIRST before profit taking is allowed, especially after you have increased energy rates. THAT IS THE PUC's RESPONSIBILITY! The communication and "moving of the goalposts" on restoration of power was also complicated. I would expect in 2024 with proposed "smart grid technology" and other technological tools available, XCel would better service the needs of their customers and timing. If this is going to be an ongoing issue with XCel, it's up to PUC to make sure XCel is updating the power grid to so it's mitigated better for these situations or homeowners need to be aware that this is going to be an "ongoing issue" and we can acquire our own mitigation solutions.