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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.
How did Xcel decide whose power to shut off? All over Boulder it was random- with one street shut down while across the street had power. Felt very random. Would appreciate knowing how these decisions were made!
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We were given no notification that we were going to be affected by the shutdown. If you're going to use a system like this you need to be more prepared. I respect the need to prevent fires and love the thought but this was extremely poorly executed.
Our neighborhood is full of senior citizens 80+ and no one ever had a clue as to what was happening. It was near impossible to find out what was happening. Your texting and map system said we had power the entire time.
We finally were able to find a generator for rent almost... Continue reading
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What Xcel Energy might've considered a reasonable plan was instead executed poorly, in my opinion. They created a very difficult situation for so many people in Colorado. Nobody wants any fires to start, but the power being shut off for more than 24 to 32 hours was not humane especially in light of the extreme lack of information/updates. Our household and neighborhood in the Applewood area of Golden went without electrical power beginning at 9:30 PM Saturday, April 6th and lasted through 4:15 PM Tuesday, April 9th, 2024. I received one text on April 6th telling me there is an... Continue reading
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We were told that there MAY be a shut off and this was only a maybe! The message stated that Xcel would possibly cut power during the event of the storm starting at 3pm Saturday the 6th, and would be restored by noon Sunday the 7th.
As I was preparing to shut down a restaurant for the supposed event, the power went out at 2:15, 45 minutes before the speculated shut down.
As a family of 5 in a rural setting, we rely on a working well, power in order to prepare food, propane to heat us, and and internet... Continue reading
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We received the automatic phone call that power would be shut-off at 3 on Saturday and restored by noon on Sunday. It was 7:48 pm before our power was restored. We were among the lucky ones to have power restored. Frasier Manor Retirement Community supposedly was on the ‘do not cut power’ list, but Xcel goofed and cut their power for 30 hours. Imagine being a senior with mobility and health issues unable to use the elevator in a multi-story building and lacking access to hot food. Also imagine looking out your windows and realizing that neighbors in the Frasier... Continue reading
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I am writing on behalf of residents of Balfour Senior Living in Louisville. Xcel cut the power at this location from last Saturday through Monday. Residents there are a vulnerable community: about 200 people, all elderly and many with mobility issues and a number dependent on oxygen, live in Balfour’s three independent living buildings there. Residents living on the second and third floors were stranded: the elevators did not work and the stairs were completely dark. Balfour does not have a back-up generator. Residents were left in the dark, with no heat, for 42 hours.
Nobody has been able to explain to us how EVERYONE around my subdivision had power and we didn't. Everything is buried. Xcel haphazardly chose who to screw over. All they were doing was protecting their executives bonuses and shareholder profits, in fact they probably are getting HUGE bonuses for this. They constantly raise rates while letting their infrastructure rot without proper maintenance and upgrading. The fact that they refuse to compensate customers who had to throw out hundreds of dollars of food shows their lack of morals and human compassion as a company. Do we really want that kind of... Continue reading
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I and my family members are some of the 55,000 people who endured the consequences of the intentional, precautionary outage conducted by Xcel to reduce the possibility of wildfire. We did not receive any notice of Xcel's "plan" until late afternoon or early evening on Friday, April 5. The notice we received stated that electricity would be turned off for the duration of the High Wind Warning, which was 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 6 until 12 noon on Sunday, April 7. The stated reason for this power shutdown was to prevent another wildfire (like the Marshall... Continue reading
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We were part of the preventive shutdown. We got notice sat morning so had little time to prepare. Our power was off til Monday morning so we lost everything on our fridge and feeezer. We received NO notification that the power had been turned on. We found out from neighbors and our internet provider.
The outage map is a joke. My neighborhood never showed up as being out even though our whole neighborhood and everyone N of Via Appia in Louisville was out while those S had power.
luckily my house stayed fairly warm, but if it had been colder... Continue reading
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I agree with the comments that this "proactive" power shut down was more about legal liability mitigation for XCEL Energy than fire mitigation. There must be different and much less invasive options for wildfire risk mitigation sparked by power lines than a power shut down affecting tens of thousands.
Also, by deciding to shut down the lines and requiring staff to look at 600 miles of power lines before turning them on, Xcel set itself up to miss their announced plan to restore power by noon on Sunday. Did they not expect that power would go out in other sections... Continue reading
