DENVER — About 6,200 Xcel Energy customers in Colorado were still without power as of 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to the utility's outage map.
Xcel was working to restore power after more than 150,000 customers experienced outages as strong winds moved through Colorado this weekend. About 55,000 of those customers had their power preemptively shut off, and more than 100,000 customers lost power at some point due to the wind.
Powerlines were de-energized due to winds causing an increased risk of wildfire in Boulder, Gilpin, Jefferson, Larimer, Douglas and Broomfield counties, as well as the west Denver metro area along the foothills.
Xcel Energy said on Monday afternoon that 27,100 customers were still without power and that they expected 80% to 90% of those outages to be resolved by Monday night.
"The weather event, including high wind and red flag warnings, ended at noon yesterday, making it safe for our crews to assess damage, inspect powerlines and re-energize impacted customers," Xcel said in a statement. "As windspeeds decreased, we were able to deploy other inspection tools like helicopters and drones to further speed the restoration process. This includes both those customers impacted by the public safety power shutoff (PSPS) and the severe weather."
The areas where outages might last into Tuesday are in the Kipling, Arvada and Boulder foothills areas, Xcel said.
Xcel regional vice president Hollie Velasquez Horvath said Sunday afternoon they learned several lessons this weekend and are working on ways to better communicate with customers, but she stands by the decision they made to shut off power before the strong winds arrived.
“I believe we made absolutely the right decision,” she said. “We have damage on our electric lines that is due to wind. If those lines were energized, that was a risk of a wildfire.”
Xcel said crews needed to inspect the more than 600 miles of powerlines that were preemptively de-energized before power could be restored.
The shutoffs began at around 3 p.m. Saturday and continued into Sunday. Xcel released a map Saturday night of the approximate areas where the shutoffs were happening.
Dustin Tomson’s home in Littleton was part of the planned outage.
“I was kind of awestruck,” Tomson said. “I’ve never had that, and I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life. We’ve lost power during windstorms, but they’ve never turned it off on purpose.”
Tomson’s power was restored Sunday evening after 26 hours without electricity. His wife uses a CPAP, which forced them to spend Saturday night in a hotel. Tomson said his biggest frustration was Xcel’s poor communication surrounding the public safety shutoff plan.
“It was like a two to three hours’ notice that they were cutting our power and that it was going to be off for 20-21 hours,” Tomson said. “The only other communication they’ve given me was [Sunday] when they said they’re doing their best to get it back on and that they don’t know when it’s going to be back on.”
This is the first time Xcel has proactively shut off power before a storm in Colorado. Xcel operates in eight states, and has tried this method in other states. Xcel said de-energizing has become an increasingly common tool in helping reduce the risk of wildfires.
The company also said it changed settings on many powerlines so that they would not try to restore power automatically if there was an issue that caused an outage, such as a tree branch contacting powerlines.
"Xcel Energy is changing the settings on those systems in many areas to prevent the automatic restoration of power. Instead, crews will patrol the area to ensure it is safe to restore service. This safety measure means power outages are likely to last longer. Crews are standing by, ready to conduct patrols and restore power when it is safe," the company said in a release Saturday.
Xcel warned customers who have medical equipment that requires electricity to prepare for the potential of extended outages.
South Metro Fire Rescue offered some tips for residents:
- People who are dependent on bottled oxygen should have enough spare bottles to get through Sunday, or should consider staying with family, friends or at a hotel outside planned outage areas.
- Smoke alarms may start chirping intermittently because the backup batteries are low and should be replaced.
- Do not use a gas stove to heat a home, do not use outdoor stoves indoors and keep generators outside in a well-ventilated area away from windows.
Reporting an outage
Customers can report outages to Xcel a few different ways:
- The My Xcel Energy mobile app, available in the Apple App Store and through Google Play.
- Online at xcelenergy.com/out
- Via text by texting OUT to 98936 to report an outage, or text STAT to the same number to check the status of a power outage
- By calling 1-800-895-1999 and following the prompts—the automated phone reporting system lets customers report outages in less than 60 seconds. Once the cause of the problem is identified, the system or an Xcel Energy representative will provide customers with an estimated restoration time when available.
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