Power outage April 6 & 7

I just wanted to share my story about the intentional weekend power outage by Xcel.

We had no power from Saturday at 2:22 p.m. until Sunday around 3:00 p.m. After hearing stories about other customers’ experience, I feel fortunate that I only lost a minimal amount of food and our power came back on in 24 hours. However, my husband is on a biological medication called Humira that costs $7,300 for 2 injections. We had 3 boxes in the refrigerator. I couldn’t open the refrigerator so I was worried when I did open the door , the medication would be spoiled. Luckily, we did not lose the medication.

I have no problem as to why Xcel decided to do this. I agree with this wholeheartedly but customers need to be made aware ahead of time so they can prepare. We received no notice. Going forward, I’m just asking for some notice. The CEO of Xcel said they did not want customers to prepare for something that might not happen. I’d rather prepare than lose $21,000 worth of medication.

If this is going to be the norm, then Xcel needs to improve their communication methods. I’m sure a company that had net income of $1.7 BILLION in 2023 could come up with something to improve their communication with customers in an event they need to intentionally cut power in the future.