DENVER — The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) reopened its investigation into Xcel Energy’s April power shutoff during Wednesday’s weekly meeting.
Two weeks ago, the PUC closed the investigation without taking any action.
Following that decision earlier this month, Gov. Jared Polis (D) said in an interview with Next with Kyle Clark that the community should not wait for emergency rules.
“No, I’d like them to move quickly,” Polis said on May 15.
On April 9, Polis sent a letter to Xcel after the power shutoff saying he expected the PUC to create emergency rules.
Xcel is expected to submit its new wildfire mitigation plan in the next two weeks.
That mitigation plan will include what the utility will do to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires, but it will not be formalized and approved by the PUC for up to a year.
“The wildfire mitigation plan is something that the PUC should, of course, do, but it's a much slower process that, I understand, is a six-to-12-month process before that's finalized. They should move forward around these planned outages as quickly as they possibly can to make sure that they get some basic protection for consumers in place,” Polis said on May 15.
“I had a number of questions and concerns, such that I've asked to have this item put back on the agenda for further discussion,” PUC Chairman Eric Blank said on Wednesday.
The PUC is issuing a written order with several questions for Xcel to answer in two-to-three weeks, which will be the guideline for emergency rules around Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) communication.
“What struck me was, I think, the need for better coordination, especially with municipalities, emergency operations centers, as well as vulnerable and critical customers,” PUC Commissioner Megan Gilman said.
“I think the thing that’s abundantly clear is that there's real problem with communication, both with customers and with the relevant emergency service agencies,” PUC Commissioner Tom Plant said.
The three commissioners will order emergency rules around communicating future PSPS’ to customers, county emergency operations managers, municipalities and customers who rely on electricity for medical needs.
“It would certainly be ideal, it seems like to me, to have a written and widely known communications plan for these sorts of events in place before an event,” Gilman said.
The emergency rules would be in place during the time that the PUC is going through the required hearings on Xcel’s next wildfire mitigation plan, which will likely include the interim emergency rules.
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