State regulators launched an investigation this month into Xcel Energy’s preemptive outage that left tens of thousands of customers along the Front Range without power for days in early April. Xcel officials said the decision to cut off power was a precautionary measure taken primarily to avoid a situation similar to the Marshall Fire. That fire destroyed over 1,000 homes at the end of 2021 and was partiallycaused by an unmoored power line managed by Xcel.
But the public was not entirely happy with Xcel Energy's planned outage earlier this month. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) heard nearly three hours of public comment from leaders and community members last week. Eric Blank, the PUC’s chairman, stressed commission members would not be answering any questions during the meeting, just listening and learning.
“This is the first planned outage in Colorado, and right now we have more questions than answers, which is why hearing from all of you is so important,” he said.
More than 160 residents signed up to speak. Many, like former Boulder city councilmember Steve Pomerance, were critical of the utility and even asked that Xcel take full financial responsibility for the damages done.
“I don't think you can count on Xcel to do the job right, given what the performance has been to date,” he said.
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Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett said the shutoff of power seemed to be “an appropriate and necessary tool,” but when it came to execution, Brockett said Xcel “failed to take the steps that would have resulted in better and more manageable outcomes for seriously impacted communities.”
Brockett also questioned why Xcel did not coordinate a shared power shutoff plan with the city.
“We worked to amplify the limited information that we had from Xcel, but it wasn't enough to satisfy the community,” he said.
Some community members reported not having access to a phone or internet during the outage to receive updates. Others said the outage maps provided by Xcel were incomplete and inaccurate.
“My neighbor's on the 'even' side of the streets, their lights came back on…we got the same notice that says ‘Your electricity is on,’” said LaShanda Weston of Denver. “But since we're on the 'odd' side of the street, our electricity didn't come on until Saturday night…even when I did call Xcel to inquire, they hung up on me twice.”
Some residents were scared they would not have the power they needed for their medical equipment. Amy Petre Hill of the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition spoke about one of her good friends who is ventilator-dependent and relies on electricity to power a medical device that controls their body temperature 24/7.
Petre Hill said her friend is alive due to a battery backup provided by the University of Colorado Denver’s Center for Inclusive Design. The center distributes the batteries for free, but despite the inclusive design center's multiple attempts to reach Xcel, Petre Hill said there hasn’t been much discussion.
“In some instances, seconds matter, and not hours,” said Julia Beems of CU's inclusive design center. “We've had multiple comments saying what a life saving device this is, and I would suggest that companies utilize the resources that are out there.”
There was some agreement among residents and business owners that the outage was necessary to prevent a wildfire, but they also agreed it had financial consequences. Downtown Boulder Partnership CEO Bettina Swigger reported businesses had an estimated $1.3 million in lost revenue and $240,000 in unpaid wages as a result of the outage.
Hosea Rosenberg, who is the owner of the Blackbelly restaurant in Boulder, said he was signed up for Xcel’s alerts but did not receive any warning about the outage until 30 minutes after it happened. He did not hear again from Xcel until 15 to 20 minutes before the power was restored Monday.
“We have between $50- and $60,000 worth of food inventory in this building,” he said. “I have 100 employees, and it's my livelihood, my employees’ livelihood. And obviously a lot of food that should not go to waste…We were lucky enough to borrow a refrigerated truck and saved most of our food, but we did lose three days of sales, which was a huge impact.”
Ben Todd had a similar story. He owns two restaurants on Broadway in Denver. He estimates he lost around 20,000 customers during the outage. His main issue, however, was with insurance companies and receiving financial compensation for the damages.
“While State Farm is covering one of our businesses, another insurance company for our other business is not, (saying) since this was a utility outage caused by an abundance of caution, it is not their responsibility—meaning, they're saying it's Xcel’s,” he said. “Xcel doesn't seem to feel at fault here either.”
So far, the PUC has received over 700 comments from people affected by the outage, and a response form on their website will be open for several weeks, if not months.
The goal is to use these comments to help rework and form a comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan that will need to be discussed and approved by the PUC. Commissioners also plan to talk to Xcel about establishing rules for a power shutoff program, improving communication, and investing in resiliency efforts.
