Commission hears from hundreds of Xcel customers in shutoff investigation
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Hundreds of community members, business owners and elected officials are voicing their concerns about Xcel Energy’s recent decision to shut off power for about 55,000 customers during a severe windstorm earlier this month.
The shutoff was done preemptively to prevent a fire from sparking amid high winds, according to the utility company. Xcel said it takes similar measures in California and Texas, but this is the first time preemptive shutoffs have happened in Colorado.
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At Gov. Jared Polis’ request, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission is investigating Xcel’s actions. A public hearing held from 4-7 p.m. Wednesday was part of the investigation.
“We are here to listen and learn and make sure your comments are reflected in the record,” Colorado Public Utilities Commission Chair Eric Blank said during the hearing.
55K lose power during Xcel’s preemptive shutoffs in Colorado
According to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, approximately 168,000 customers across nine counties were without power during the weather event, and 55,000 outages were because of Xcel’s intentional, precautionary shutoffs.
Blank told those attending that 700 people sent in public comments before the hearing, and more than 160 people signed up to speak.
“Even when I did call Xcel to inquire, they hung up on me twice,” Denver resident LaShanda Weston said.
“Our power went out and we never received any notification that would happen,” resident Nick Torres said. “Throughout the outage, it never appeared on the outage map from Xcel, so I reported it and it was denied that there was an outage in my area. So, basic communication improvements, especially from the tools the public is referred to for questions, would be on my priority list.”
Aside from residents recounting their experiences being left in the dark during the planned and unplanned outages, elected officials and business owners spoke out.
“Executing the shutoff was not a spur-of-the-moment decision by Xcel. It is something they had been considering for some time,” Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett said. “Why wasn’t Xcel proactively planning with communities like ours to develop a shared plan for the shutoff? Why weren’t steps taken to work with us to protect our critical infrastructure? And there were major gaps in notifications to our business community — why did that happen?”
Hosea Rosenberg, a restaurant owner, spoke about how he received no warning about a planned outage from Xcel until after his business already had no power.
“Then, I got no information from Xcel until Monday afternoon about 15 or 20 minutes after the power was restored,” Rosenberg said. “We have between 50 and 60 thousand dollars worth of food inventory in this building. I have 100 employees and it’s my livelihood, my employees’ livelihood.”
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Watch the full hearing on the Colorado Public Utilities Commission’s YouTube.
Xcel has said it will only use this strategy during “extraordinary circumstances.” It will not be used every time there’s a red flag warning.
As for the next steps, the commission stated that Xcel should be submitting a plan in the coming weeks or months for how the company will handle planned outages in the future.
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