Very Poor Execution of Shutting Off Power

The mountain towns were treated poorly during the outtage. We were one of the last places where power was turned on, even though there were almost no downed poles, lines or trees anywhere near power lines. Here are some questions that need answering:

WHY keep our power off the longest when we had the least damage, and a high percentage of wells for our water? Power out meant we had no water to flush toilets, and though we prepared, they kept the power off so long we ran out of water to flush our toilets.

WHY didn't Xcel have local members of their repair staff on every crew? I spoke to the crew on James Canyon, and they were frustrated because Xcel didn't do this, and they were all from other parts of the state. It's ignorant to treat mountains like they're cookie cutter houses with easy to understand street grids.

WHY, if this was a PUBLIC SAFETY issue, were there NO sheriff's deputies (who's are in the mountains daily) paired up to help with PUBLIC SAFETY? We saw not one deputy, or open space or mountain staff involved.

WHY is it that I had to drive far to throw out all the garbage of rottten food that happened due to keeping the power off so long?

WHY did I have to buy $300 of food to begin to replace what rotted, and be told Xcel won't compensate, and won't even credit us with the days they withheld electricity?

WHY did CenturyLink, who has a monopoly on landline phones in the mountains, fail to keep those landlines operating? They charge me, a senior on a fixed income, over $78 a month for a landline, which I stretch my dollars to have for emergencies just like this?

After the CalWood fire, when we were evacuated for a week, the power in our houses were turned off. When we returned a week later, BOULDER COUNTY provided huge dumpsters daily for almost a week so we could throw out all our rotted food. Then we were eligible for $125 gift cards to King Soopers to help us replace the food we lost. We felt seen and valued.

I realize there are less people in the mountains, but our needs are specific and need to be understood and accomodated much better than this debacle by Xcel.

After the Marshall fire, Xcel did the right thing in the ensuing two years up here in the mountains to check/replace poles, lines, and other things needed to run electricity.

I believe (and have heard to same thing from lots of folks) that Xcel is so afraid of being sued again, that we all paid the price.

WHAT is going to be done about this?