Xcel Energy gives itself a grade of B- for Front Range windstorm communications
DENVER (KDVR) – Xcel Energy is standing behind its decision to proactively cut off power to thousands of customers as high winds blew through the state over the weekend.
Hollie Velasquez Horvath, Xcel’s regional vice president, said inspectors did find damaged infrastructure after the storm.
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“We believe that if we hadn’t done this, we could have ignited a wildfire,” Velasquez Horvath said.
At one point, 155,000 customers were without power. About 100,000 lost power due to damage, but 55,000 had their power cut to reduce the wildfire risk if a line blew down.
Many customers support the decision but say better communication was needed.
“No one wants another Marshall Fire,” said Jeremiah Harvey, the owner of Mangia Panino restaurant in Boulder. Power was cut to his restaurant Saturday.
“It was pretty quick, not a lot of time to react,” Harvey said.
He said he needed more advance notice and better communication from Xcel.
“There were a lot of phone calls that were on hold. There were a lot of emails that were unanswered,” he said.
He’s not alone. Nicole Whitley, the mother of a KDVR/KWGN employee, said the physical therapy practice where she works in Louisville still had no power Monday morning.
“We get why it happened, we’ve just had no communication,” Whitley said. “It’s just a huge impact to a small business.”
Xcel executives acknowledge there is room for improvement in their communication with customers and the amount of advance notice they provide.
This location hit close to 100 mph during the April windstorm
“Industry standard is roughly around 72 hours in advance. So, if we can work toward that and give our customers and businesses enough time to prepare for that outage, we will absolutely do so,” said Velasquez Horvath.
She gives the company a B minus on how it handled the weekend winds, citing communication issues.
She said in the future Xcel plans to do a better job with its website and communicating when power could be restored.
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