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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 Tenants are NOT served by Ecel on FacebookShare Tenants are NOT served by Ecel on TwitterShare Tenants are NOT served by Ecel on LinkedinEmail Tenants are NOT served by Ecel link
I have lived in Colorado my entire 42 years. We have never had a preventative shut down. I pay my bill every month in order to prevent a shut down. There is no way a company should be able to just shut you down when you ate in good standing with them. I was never notified about this shut down. I have an 18 month old and family members that need electricity for medical devices needed at night. Not to mention I shouldn't have to go to my car and charge my phone so I can have an alarm for... Continue reading
Share No electricity equals no oxygen on FacebookShare No electricity equals no oxygen on TwitterShare No electricity equals no oxygen on LinkedinEmail No electricity equals no oxygen link
Many people were unable to run their oxygen concentrators due to power outages in their area. I am an RN Case Manager in a Level I trauma center in the Denver area. We had numerous patients brought in by EMS because of hypoxia and other worsening conditions due to lack of oxygen (many of which ended up in ICU). Many patients tell me that they did not know that there was to be a forced power outage. This lack of communication prohibited people who rely on oxygen concentrators from reaching their oxygen providers in time to have oxygen tanks delivered... Continue reading
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I’ve never lived in a neighborhood that loses power so often. Sometimes it’s once a week, sometimes every 2 weeks we lose power. This time it was 3 days, then 1 week later the power went off again for 3 hours.😞 We had to throw out all the spoiled food from our refrigerator & a freezer. I wish they could fix this poor system we have in this area.
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I live in Arvada and we were without power from Saturday around 10:00 p.m. to Tuesday around 6:00 p.m. I know power outages are common in high wind. It was not the power being off it was the lack of communication. On Monday I received only two messages from Xcel. One stated power would be back on by 2:00 p.m. and one that said power would be back up by 8:00 p.m. I even called the hot line and all it said was that it was taking longer than expected. I checked my food and I had kept my fireplace... Continue reading
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I have been a Boulder Uber driver on Friday and Saturday evenings for over 8 years. NONE of the stories I have read about the planned outage mention how dangerous the roads were to drive on Saturday April 6th. I usually Uber from 4pm to 4am. Coming in from Longmont (where I live) I had no idea any power was out (I of course received no previous notice) until I came to the first signal and saw it not working (NOT blinking RED or yellow) but TOTALLY DARK. No problem, I just stopped like a 4-way stop. However, later in... Continue reading
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My name is Jo Ferguson, and I'm 80 years old, widowed in February, and I live at Frasier in Boulder. We all heard the weather reports days before the Apr 6 event, and as we are 2 miles from the Marshall Fire area, were ready with our To-Go bags for an evacuation. Xcel informed Frasier on Apr 6 in the morning that we would NOT be impacted by the power shut-downs because of the expected high winds. But at 2:31 PM, we were alerted that the power would be turned off by 3 pm in our senior living complex of... Continue reading
Share No Meaningful Communication During Outage on FacebookShare No Meaningful Communication During Outage on TwitterShare No Meaningful Communication During Outage on LinkedinEmail No Meaningful Communication During Outage link
Our home on Olde Stage Road in Boulder lost power from Saturday at 3 pm until Monday at 2 pm -- 47 hours!!
While we are glad that Xcel turned off the power to avoid a catastrophic wildfire in our neighborhood, the communications following the wind storm were inaccurate and misleading. When we texted Xcel to get a status of when the power would be restored, Xcel texted back claiming there was no outage in my area. In response, I reported the outage. When I checked back a half hour later, Xcel claimed there was no outage. This went on... Continue reading
Share What's the Plan? on FacebookShare What's the Plan? on TwitterShare What's the Plan? on LinkedinEmail What's the Plan? link
I'm a business and residential Xcel customer. Xcel communications go to one email address, but never specified whether the information applied to the business or residential account. The business suffered thousands of dollars in losses and the home hundreds.
Xcel has said they could improve their communications. That suggests no plans to upgrade infrastructure to be more resilient and, instead, we can expect de-energizing as a strategy from now on. There needs to be systems in place to prevent residents and businesses from regular hardships, so that means excessive communications and excessive notice. As Xcel has made clear they understand... Continue reading
Share Never Notified Due to Xcel Admin Errors on FacebookShare Never Notified Due to Xcel Admin Errors on TwitterShare Never Notified Due to Xcel Admin Errors on LinkedinEmail Never Notified Due to Xcel Admin Errors link
Never got notified; Xcel had old ph# which I notified them 4yrs ago had changed and person said they had updated their system. Learned about planned shutoff day of, thru NextDoor, and called before shut off to see if I was impacted. Xcel rep statedthey could only tell me counties but that no outbound notification call had been made to me (thought I was in the clear, but they were checking on my current cell ph #). Xcel rep told me I could have only 1 way for them to contact me -outrageous! Xcel should be required... Continue reading
