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Update 7/24/2024

As a result of the follow up actions to the initial power shutoff in April, the PUC requested that Xcel submit to the Commission a description of what immediate improvements they will make to customer communication, preparedness and coordination with emergency responders. The PUC has received this information from Xcel which can be found here. We are seeking public input by August 13, 2024. We welcome your feedback.



Summary

Over the weekend of April 6-7, Colorado experienced a weather event that brought wind gusts in excess of 100 mph in some areas of the state and sustained high winds throughout the weekend. The outages and weather impacts were concentrated in the northern front range. Over 150,000 people across 9 counties were without power statewide during the event. 55,000 of these were the result of an intentional, precautionary outage conducted by Xcel to reduce the possibility of wildfire. The remaining outages were either due to damage to lines or use of another preventative measures..

While power outages are a frequent impact of Colorado weather events, the April storm was the first time that Xcel pro-actively deployed preventative safety outages. In addition, a significant portion of the distribution system that would normally be set to attempt to automatically re-energize was not re-powered until visual inspection by utility crews. This precautionary measure meant a longer down period than usual as field crews had to manually inspect lines that had been de-energized. These measures are used in other western states including California and Oregon.

Please share your input and personal experience so the PUC can determine whether new regulatory approaches are necessary for precautionary outages.

Update 7/24/2024

As a result of the follow up actions to the initial power shutoff in April, the PUC requested that Xcel submit to the Commission a description of what immediate improvements they will make to customer communication, preparedness and coordination with emergency responders. The PUC has received this information from Xcel which can be found here. We are seeking public input by August 13, 2024. We welcome your feedback.



Summary

Over the weekend of April 6-7, Colorado experienced a weather event that brought wind gusts in excess of 100 mph in some areas of the state and sustained high winds throughout the weekend. The outages and weather impacts were concentrated in the northern front range. Over 150,000 people across 9 counties were without power statewide during the event. 55,000 of these were the result of an intentional, precautionary outage conducted by Xcel to reduce the possibility of wildfire. The remaining outages were either due to damage to lines or use of another preventative measures..

While power outages are a frequent impact of Colorado weather events, the April storm was the first time that Xcel pro-actively deployed preventative safety outages. In addition, a significant portion of the distribution system that would normally be set to attempt to automatically re-energize was not re-powered until visual inspection by utility crews. This precautionary measure meant a longer down period than usual as field crews had to manually inspect lines that had been de-energized. These measures are used in other western states including California and Oregon.

Please share your input and personal experience so the PUC can determine whether new regulatory approaches are necessary for precautionary outages.

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  • Share Little Communication on Facebook Share Little Communication on Twitter Share Little Communication on Linkedin Email Little Communication link

    Little Communication

    by Pooh, 8 months ago
    We weren't part of the preemptive shutdown but did lose our power on Saturday night at 9 pm. I am on oxygen and "planned" for oxygen for one day and one night. We heard nothing on Sunday from Xcel when our power would be restored. Had to take measures to call my oxygen company to get some tanks delivered to me. They did. It was cold overnight on Sunday so the house was very cold! On Monday still did not hear anything from Xcel as to an estimated time of power restoration. I had to call the oxygen company AGAIN... Continue reading
  • Share What Notification??? What Communication??? on Facebook Share What Notification??? What Communication??? on Twitter Share What Notification??? What Communication??? on Linkedin Email What Notification??? What Communication??? link

    What Notification??? What Communication???

    by Fed up with Xcel, 8 months ago

    I would comment on the notifications and communications, but neither occurred. It was obvious that there was no communication planning done by Xcel. They just decided to turn off power for certain customers.

    It would have been nice to get some communication that my home was in the planned outage or that my house was not in the planned outage. That way, if I lost power, I would know whether Xcel did it or some tree knocked out our power instead of guessing.

    Communication occurred with canned responses that communicated nothing. This message was a popular one of choice.

    While... Continue reading

  • Share Shameful lack of communication on Facebook Share Shameful lack of communication on Twitter Share Shameful lack of communication on Linkedin Email Shameful lack of communication link

    Shameful lack of communication

    by MSLittleton, 8 months ago
    I learned through a site on Facebook that Xcel was planning outages to prevent wildfires. I support their decision. And I knew that we were looking at a historically intense wind event. So I was not surprised that here in Littleton my power went out around 10:15 pm Saturday. Looking to the east of my house, it was completely dark, so I knew that it was a large outage. My neighbors across the street still had power (and continued to all weekend). I believe that this is because their houses back up to the light rail tracks along Santa Fe... Continue reading
  • Share 66 hours (2 3/4 days) without power. WTH on Facebook Share 66 hours (2 3/4 days) without power. WTH on Twitter Share 66 hours (2 3/4 days) without power. WTH on Linkedin Email 66 hours (2 3/4 days) without power. WTH link

    66 hours (2 3/4 days) without power. WTH

    by mjm, 8 months ago
    I have lived in/around Denver, Colorado my entire 65 year life. I remember when Excel was called Public Service Company. This area has had many natural disasters in that time: Floods, tornados, hail, huge snowstorms, very high wind storms. I have had power go out numerous times, as expected. However, the longest I have ever had to wait for a fix has been maybe a day and a half (32-36hrs). This last outage was not fixed for nearly 3 days (66 hours). Had I not had a friend willing to lend me a generator to power my fridges, I would... Continue reading
  • Share Class Action Lawsuit on Facebook Share Class Action Lawsuit on Twitter Share Class Action Lawsuit on Linkedin Email Class Action Lawsuit link

    Class Action Lawsuit

    by Davide, 8 months ago


    First, the weather event was nothing we had not experienced before.


    Second, if power lines were buried like in most developed nations, this wouldn't even be an issue to begin with.


    Third, warning communication that power "might" be shut off 5 hours in advance is laughable.


    Fourth, updates during the shutoff were non-existing.


    We deserve better.


    Davide


  • Share The Path Forward on Facebook Share The Path Forward on Twitter Share The Path Forward on Linkedin Email The Path Forward link

    The Path Forward

    by MissBelle, 8 months ago

    I received notice at about 1:30 April 6th that power would go off at 3:00. It was nowhere near enough time to manage such a situation, and it made me angry that this was clearly a circumstance that could be predicted days or even a week prior. Why was I hearing about it at the very last minute? After dropping everything to rush to prepare, thankfully my power stayed on. It made me think about future wind and storm events that would likely come to include these outages as a new normal. While this time I was one of the... Continue reading

  • Share Necessary on Facebook Share Necessary on Twitter Share Necessary on Linkedin Email Necessary link

    Necessary

    by Plmv, 8 months ago
    I understand why they did it, and appreciate their concern. Really would not want another fire.

    What I don’t understand is why one neighborhood was shut down and the next one had power. Why up in the fire area of Louisville, they had power plus Main St, but neighborhoods in between that saw no fire were without power.

    Also, the notification made it sound as if they could turn it off and then turn it back on just as fast. Then we started to hear about the 600 miles of lines that needed to be checked.

    Communication was extremely difficult... Continue reading

  • Share Arvada townhhome community on Facebook Share Arvada townhhome community on Twitter Share Arvada townhhome community on Linkedin Email Arvada townhhome community link

    Arvada townhhome community

    by Jane PI, 8 months ago
    My husband and I live in an HOA with underground power lines. We assume that our 20-hour power outage was due to a transformer failure or downed lines that feed into our neighborhood. In all prior outages, we have received an email or text notification that the power was out, with an estimate of when it would be restored,. In this case, we had no communication from Excel until mid afternoon Saturday. I called the customer service line 8 times (about once every two hours) and only got the message that it was widespread and that crews could work after... Continue reading
  • Share Underground lines on Facebook Share Underground lines on Twitter Share Underground lines on Linkedin Email Underground lines link

    Underground lines

    by Boulder J, 8 months ago
    One thing that few people are talking about is the fact that areas with buried power lines were still cut off. Much of the core of the City of Boulder has underground wires, yet many of these areas (including my neighborhood) lost power. This makes no sense. At a Monday meeting, the Xcel rep said he was "unaware that any areas with underground lines were cut," and the room erupted with "Oh yes there were!!" Additionally, these areas still took hours (or days) to have power restored. Xcel's excuse of "we have to inspect the lines" makes no sense when... Continue reading
  • Share Excel sucks! on Facebook Share Excel sucks! on Twitter Share Excel sucks! on Linkedin Email Excel sucks! link

    Excel sucks!

    by Kevin Averill, 8 months ago

    during the outage I had to get a hotel room for three days, so I wouldn’t freeze to death and keep my CPAP plugged in. What they did was criminal!! I’d like reimbursed for three days at a hotel in Louisville.

Page last updated: 27 Aug 2024, 04:09 PM