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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 No way of notifying non-outage information on Facebook Share No way of notifying non-outage information on Twitter Share No way of notifying non-outage information on Linkedin Email No way of notifying non-outage information link

    No way of notifying non-outage information

    by krulli, 8 months ago
    My home is in a neighborhood with underground power lines and my home was not affected by the outage.


    However, I had a 45ft tree downed in my neighbors yard that is a few feet from an Xcel box that dispursed power to nearby houses. I attempted to put in a service request, however, there is no way to report any kind of incident that is not an outage. The reporting tool gave me an error when attempting to report an outage (even though I still had power, I had no way of reporting to Xcel otherwise) and I was... Continue reading

  • Share Shutdown appeared punitive, badly managed, and solely profit oriented. on Facebook Share Shutdown appeared punitive, badly managed, and solely profit oriented. on Twitter Share Shutdown appeared punitive, badly managed, and solely profit oriented. on Linkedin Email Shutdown appeared punitive, badly managed, and solely profit oriented. link

    Shutdown appeared punitive, badly managed, and solely profit oriented.

    by 46YearResident, 8 months ago
    • Xcel appears to have managed this shutdown ”by the seat of their pants” to the uncaring detriment of their customers.
    • Xcel’s sudden interest in wildfire mitigation is profit-oriented and nothing else --- to the detriment of customers. SoCalEdison started regular preemptive shutdowns after successfully being sued for $80 million for the Bobcat Fire. This preemptive shutdown appears to be a direct result of the Marshall fire and subsequent lawsuit(s).
    • Shutdown length was excessive in our location. Our shutdown started hours before the winds really kicked up and lasted far too long through most of Sunday daylight hours when... Continue reading
  • Share 2024 Xcel wind debacle on Facebook Share 2024 Xcel wind debacle on Twitter Share 2024 Xcel wind debacle on Linkedin Email 2024 Xcel wind debacle link

    2024 Xcel wind debacle

    by Broncofan44, 8 months ago

    While I understand the importance of being proactive in the energizing an area due to high winds, based on a fire hazard, it doesn’t make sense to me that neighbors across the street had power the whole entire time. I get that certain transformers run certain areas, but if there’s a huge fire danger, why do they have power and we don’t?


    They are literally less than 100 yards away from my front door.



    Then when I went to check on my outage, it kept saying that I had no outage. Multiple times I tried to report my outage and... Continue reading

  • Share estimated $20 million in food wasted on Facebook Share estimated $20 million in food wasted on Twitter Share estimated $20 million in food wasted on Linkedin Email estimated $20 million in food wasted link

    estimated $20 million in food wasted

    by sclaeson, 8 months ago
    The power company doesn't want a public relations nightmare like the Superior fire that they created so now they're going to punish customers by shutting off their electricity in the middle of North Aurora. and other places.



  • Share No notice in Littleton on Facebook Share No notice in Littleton on Twitter Share No notice in Littleton on Linkedin Email No notice in Littleton link

    No notice in Littleton

    by Nena, 8 months ago
    Littleton is not known for its wildfires, so when I learned about households losing power preemptively, I thought it was a precaution for folks who live in high-risk areas with overhead power lines. Our power lines are underground and we didn’t have a history of wildfires in this part of Jefferson County. I also thought it would be tough on people who live in those areas, but at least they would have fair warning. We didn’t get any warning when the power went off on Saturday afternoon around 3 pm. The internet was out, but my phone was charged so... Continue reading
  • Share Short of Breath on Facebook Share Short of Breath on Twitter Share Short of Breath on Linkedin Email Short of Breath link

    Short of Breath

    by Linda in Louisville , 8 months ago

    Needing 3 liters of oxygen on a 24 hour basis, I was not prepared to be without electrical services when they were shut down. Having no warning, I was forced out of my home for over 48 hours. The first night was spent at a friends, the second in a hotel room . I was lucky, some senior residents in my building did not have a way or resources to go anywhere and suffered with no lights, no transportation, no ability to feed themselves and no communication of when things would improve. Our lives were interrupted and endangered without warning... Continue reading

  • Share Power outage on Facebook Share Power outage on Twitter Share Power outage on Linkedin Email Power outage link

    Power outage

    by Stabor, 8 months ago
    Power out at 9:30 pm sat night. Monday town of morrison gets power at 6 pm.

    Still out of power 10:30 pm mon.

    Called and they said tomorrow at 10 pm power will be on. Nice work Xcel. Typical PUC, no competition, no culpability.

  • Share No notices from Xcel received on Facebook Share No notices from Xcel received on Twitter Share No notices from Xcel received on Linkedin Email No notices from Xcel received link

    No notices from Xcel received

    by Heartspeak, 8 months ago
    We were not told by Xcel that we were part of the preemptive shut down. We read on social media that power would be shut off at 3pm. At 1:15 on Saturday our power was shut down and at 1:30pm Xcel notified me by email of an outage alert. We lost electricity, cell service, internet, water and television so had no way to get updates. Turns out NO updates were ever sent by Xcel. House temps below 45 forced us to go to a hotel after 30 hours. After 51 hours without power, I saw an Xcel truck in my... Continue reading
  • Share Columbine Area on Facebook Share Columbine Area on Twitter Share Columbine Area on Linkedin Email Columbine Area link

    Columbine Area

    by ryanbing, 8 months ago
    Xcel used an unlisted and unrelated 1-800 phone number to autocall, so I passed it to voicemail. Only after some neighbors started asking about it did I listen to the message. If the caller ID stated something like XCEL ALERT I definitely would have answered when it called. Our home was part of the preemptive shut down, so we anticipated an update via email or call once the restoration began explaining the re-energize process. However, the outage feature on their app/website didn’t have an estimated restoration time loaded until Sunday afternoon. On Sunday afternoon, we received text alerts with an... Continue reading
  • Share Poor communication after the first hour on Facebook Share Poor communication after the first hour on Twitter Share Poor communication after the first hour on Linkedin Email Poor communication after the first hour link

    Poor communication after the first hour

    by Jillr, 8 months ago

    Cornerstone now has power! We have been home for less than 100 days in our Marshall Fire rebuild, so we supported the shutdown. It was the terrible communication after the first hour of the shutdown. On top of that, it's hard to hear community members say that our community was shutdown due to the lawsuit.

    No updates from Xcel regarding status, but then they never had us on their outage map. Shame on them for not providing any updates after the first hour, and then not recognizing our address to report the outage. And then today, still no notification from... Continue reading

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