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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.
Share Be More Thoughful about Elderly on FacebookShare Be More Thoughful about Elderly on TwitterShare Be More Thoughful about Elderly on LinkedinEmail Be More Thoughful about Elderly link
We're elderly but we're very resourceful and have lived in India. Still, it wasn't best to be cold all night and wake up in a cold house. I would be worried about other elders who are not as resourceful. There wasn't any kind of support. We don't have a cell phone and had no way of knowing when the power cut would actually end. We could only get information by walking over to a neighbour's house. It seems like things should have been better organized and there could be more consideration of elderly people. An unnecessary emergency was created. Xcel... Continue reading
Share Mountain communities lost power for 3 days, no running water on FacebookShare Mountain communities lost power for 3 days, no running water on TwitterShare Mountain communities lost power for 3 days, no running water on LinkedinEmail Mountain communities lost power for 3 days, no running water link
Our mountain community west of Boulder lost power from 3pm saturday until 3pm tuesday, a total of 72 hours. The original communication from xcel said the power would be restored by 12pm sunday, but used vague language to infer it might not come back on. Each update we were given for the actual time of restoration was vague and ultimately incorrect, keeping us in the dark, literally, about when we'd actually get power back. They would push the restoration time forward 12 hours at a time, giving us the idea it would be on sooner than it actually was.
Share Almost a medical disaster on FacebookShare Almost a medical disaster on TwitterShare Almost a medical disaster on LinkedinEmail Almost a medical disaster link
My wife and I were leaving for an outing on April 6th. As we were leaving home I checked my email and saw an Xcel email at 10:03am warning of possible power outages...there was a second email at 12:03 pm warning us we would lose power at 3pm. Luckily I read the second email even though we only had 3 hours notice...We both have medical issues and are elderly and scrambled to implement emergency plans. Then we waited for 26 hours without any communication from Xcel...way beyond the noon timeline Xcel communicated.
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-We received five hours notice via phone/email that our power would be cut at 3p on 4/6. Not much time to react if not at home.
-Our power lines are buried
-Neighbors immediately across the street from us did not have power cut. As we drove around Boulder the evening of 4/6 we noticed this to be true elsewhere. Some areas of a neighborhood dark, other parts with power.
-What was the criteria for the power cuts? If most of the city had power, wouldn't this be a potential for a wild fire as well as our neighborhood? Many of... Continue reading
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As a utility consultant who has been in the industry for a couple decades, I'm very familiar with the Power Safety Shutoffs implemented by PG&E in California and I'm well aware of utility caused wildfires and methods to prevent them. Those wildfire risks are real and a planned outage is worth preventing a wildfire that can cost people their lives and cost billions of dollars in damage. That said, utilities do not calculate the losses to their customers when they turn off the power. Xcel loses very little money when they turn off the power. But cumulatively, residential, commercial, and... Continue reading
Share No Advanced Notice, No Reason Why We Were Unnecessarily Taken Down . . . on FacebookShare No Advanced Notice, No Reason Why We Were Unnecessarily Taken Down . . . on TwitterShare No Advanced Notice, No Reason Why We Were Unnecessarily Taken Down . . . on LinkedinEmail No Advanced Notice, No Reason Why We Were Unnecessarily Taken Down . . . link
We were shut down for no reason. Our circuit was untouched. The "Triage" group combining neighborhoods had no idea what was going on or the current specifics of the areas they are going into. The crew that came to mine had no idea of the fact or why all the homes across the street had power. And the ones North of them didn't which were on three (3) separate circuits that were cut when only one was necessary.
This unnecessarily impacted the Littleton Public Schools Admin, they have generators, the Arapahoe County Courts and several Street Lights along Littleton Blvd... Continue reading
Share Class Action Lawsuit for Economic Loss on FacebookShare Class Action Lawsuit for Economic Loss on TwitterShare Class Action Lawsuit for Economic Loss on LinkedinEmail Class Action Lawsuit for Economic Loss link
155,000 Coloradan’s were without power due to Xcel’s proactive shutdown. We lost food at a time of unprecedented inflation. We lost babies milk that mothers worked so hard to produce. We ate out in order to keep refrigerators closed. Our businesses lost critical revenue while expenses continued. Our schools and childcare centers closed forcing many parents to use paid leave or forgo pay. If we assume $100 loss per person the total economic impact is $15,500,000. If $200, $31,000,000. If $500 the total economic loss is $77,500,000. Where is Xcel’s legal responsibility for these losses? This is prime opportunity for... Continue reading
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Excel Energy did not handle the shutdowns well, and I question the effectiveness of preemptive shutdowns.
If Excel Energy cuts off power to residents, Excel needs to actively monitor wind speeds and wait to shut off power until high winds actually occur. Excel Energy turned off the power to our house in North Boulder at 3 pm when winds were mild, but winds actually picked up speed about five hours later, around 8 or 9 pm that night. After the winds died down around 5 am on Sunday, our power was not restored until around 3 pm that day. Our... Continue reading
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People go up in arms when a fire happens and point fingers to entities with money. What do you expect when a company gets sued? You think the future is smooth sailing? No.
Colorado has always been know for high winds. However, Xcel reacted because liberals thought it was okay to sue and wanted someone to be liable without evidence. Now I have to suffer knowing Xcel may do what PG&E does in California, rolling blackouts. Xcel planned a shut off for my house and I was out of power for 30 hours. Goes for the whole neighborhood. That is... Continue reading
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Many homes in Niwot are on large lots, not anything like the tiny packed lots of many subdivisions in the Marshall fire. We've endured many, many severe windstorms in the past with zero wildfire events occurring during that time, and this pre-emptive shutdown seemed pretty much the lawyerly response to the fallout of lawsuits from the Marshall fire. Being without power for over 24 hours was excessive and unnecessary. The city of Longmont, which owns their power distribution company, kept their power on the whole time, even though there are abundant numbers of homes on smaller lots and with overhead... Continue reading
