As of 1 p.m. today, April 8, the utility’s outage map indicated 41,073 customers are affected by 1,038 outages. Over 900 of those were in the greater Denver area, including Boulder and Longmont, but the largest number of outages was in Lakewood, with over 700.
Today's total is down from the 155,000 homes and businesses that experienced power outages over the weekend, with 55,000 customers having service turned off Saturday as a public safety measure and 100,000 more experiencing sustained power outages. The utility provider says another 84,000 customers had momentary outages, as well.
“As of Monday morning, about 65 percent of outages have been restored, and at current rates, we expect about 90 percent of outages to be resolved by Monday night, and will seek ways to increase that rate if there are safe ways to do so,” Xcel’s outage landing page says.
At least three schools in Denver and six in Boulder Valley School District were closed on April 8 because of the outages. The outage map is updated every ten minutes and will include restoration times when available. On X, Xcel says it has over 500 crew members working to inspect and repair power lines.
This is the first time Xcel has performed a public safety shutoff in Colorado. According to the company, it de-energized 600 miles of lines as a wildfire prevention measure.
Over the last three years, Xcel has been sued over 300 times by people who allege its infrastructure caused the Marshall Fire, which destroyed over 1,000 homes in Boulder County; on that day in 2021, winds were over 60 miles per hour. An investigation by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office found Xcel equipment may have sparked a secondary blaze after an initial ignition by a religious group.
As another preventative measure, Xcel changed its power restoration settings.
Why Xcel Is Taking Days to Restore Power
“Typically, when there is an issue that causes a power outage on a line, such as a tree branch contacting a power line, equipment on the system will attempt to restore power automatically, usually within a few seconds,” Xcel explains in an April 7 press release. “During this extreme weather event, Xcel Energy changed 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 before re-energizing the line.”That's partly why these outages last longer than typical outages. Xcel recommends checking its landing page, and says it notified those whose power would be shut off for public safety by phone, email and app notifications.
However, customers have taken issue with the utility’s notification system for the planned outages. In a March 31 announcement, the utility provider said it was prepared for high winds but did not mention the possibility of safety shutoffs.
On April 5, the day before the wind storm, Xcel announced it might de-energize power lines in “certain limited areas” as a “last resort.”
“If a line is proactively de-energized, we will not turn power back on until the high fire risk has passed, conditions are safe to do so and the line has been visually inspected,” it added. “Xcel Energy will attempt to communicate with affected customers if a power shut off is necessary.”
Xcel originally anticipated 29,000 customers would be affected, mainly in Boulder County, with small parts of Gilpin and Jefferson counties also possibly involved. Under a post on X announcing that plan, many people expressed support for the idea, though some questioned why the system is designed with so much wildfire vulnerability.
The next day, Xcel announced it would proceed with those proactive shutoffs starting at 3 p.m., into Sunday, April 7. That estimate was then upped to 55,000 impacted customers as Larimer, Douglas and Broomfield counties and the west metro Denver area along the foothills were all added to the geographical footprint.
“Pretty wild to not post a map of planned outages,” Tom Reifenberg said in a reply to the company on X. Many others agreed, asking for a map of the planned outages, which the utility could not provide.
Xcel says it did not initially have a map in order to protect transmission equipment security.
“Deciding where we may interrupt electrical service is a highly involved process, accounting for a wide array of factors, including expert analysis of meteorological data, weather conditions, and digital model simulations,” Xcel said the next day, April 7. “We also account for the types of infrastructure present in the area.”
Other customers asked about medical equipment that requires power.
“You should have a backup plan in place for use of your medical equipment should a disruption of utility service occur,” the utility replied. “If your situation is serious, you should seek medical support at area facilities that have backup power generation during extended outages.”
Many restaurants in Boulder weren't happy to lose out on a day of business and had to act quickly to save perishable items. Some owners said they felt the notification process could have been much smoother given that Xcel was aware of the wind event for a week.
"Thankfully, one of our staff members who lives very close to the restaurant told us he had received a message from Xcel earlier in the day, saying that there might be power turned off in that part of town, although our business was never informed of this warning by Xcel, and we got no notice until power was actually off," Blackbelly restaurant co-owner Lauren Feder Rosenberg said.
Blackbelly transformed into a relief center to support the community after the Marshall Fire, so the owners did note they were happy Xcel took steps to prevent wildfires. They just wanted better communication about timing and impacts.
On Sunday night, when many had been without power for around 24 hours, Xcel said it anticipated the outages could last into Monday or “possibly longer.”
Recently, a group filed a complaint against Xcel with the Public Utilities Commission alleging improper billing practices related to undergrounding power lines in areas that don’t have franchise agreements with Xcel. That filing also alleged that Xcel customers in franchised areas aren't getting their money's worth of underground power lines so far.
According to the complaint, Denver residents could be putting as much as $110 million into a fund for undergrounding projects annually, but Xcel has only approved $4 million to $6 million worth of undergrounding projects each year.
“If I understand it correctly, the process is the city has to request it — but if they don't request it, then Xcel doesn't have to do it,” said Brad Evans, who spearheaded the complaint.
Under many of Xcel’s social media announcements about the outages, residents suggested more power lines needed to be moved underground to prevent issues in the future. Others said they hope Xcel will have to compensate for the time people spent, or are spending, without power this week.
Will Xcel Customers Get Money Back?
“I hope the state will hold Xcel accountable for this,” Boulder resident Marco Toscano wrote on X. “I understand the decision to turn off power during the actual storm, but not to have a plan or resources to turn power back on as soon as the wind was within standard conditions (4: 00 a.m. for Boulder) is completely unacceptable.” Others said they had seen downed power lines and appreciated the safety measures.
In response to a question from a customer asking if Xcel would be giving people a bill credit for the situation, Xcel responded: “If we fail to meet the benchmarks for your property, you will be notified of the credits on the bills issued in July and August the year after the benchmarks were not maintained. Outages due to storms or public damage are not included when determining eligibility for the credits.”
Those benchmarks can be found in the Quality of Service Plan section of Xcel’s full electric tariff document, which explains how it provides and charges for electricity in Colorado.
Bill credits are applied the following July billing cycle of a performance year, so if people impacted by this event get credits, they won’t see them until July 2025.
If there are more than 6.5 complaints per 1,000 customers through the PUC’s External Affairs Section’s Consumer Complaint System, that would cause a bill credit.
“All Customers that experience Sustained Electric Service Interruptions of greater than twenty-four (24) hours in duration shall be provided a bill credit of $50.00 for each occurrence,” the tariff reads.
Sustained interruptions last over five minutes, according to the tariff, and customers can get a bill credit if they experience more than five sustained interruptions in a year. But Xcel can request certain outages be excluded, and last weekend's wind may fit within the request parameters.
“Such events include, but are not limited to, periods of emergency, catastrophe, natural disaster, catastrophic storm, civil unrest, or other events affecting large numbers of Customers,” the tariff says. “Such events should include only those extraordinary events that result in an unusually high number of complaints.”
However, if it isn’t safe to re-energize lines, then the utility is exempt from credits. Shutoffs initiated by Xcel are also exempt if more than half of the power outage time is “due to an emergency situation that endangers the public safety or the safety of electric service restoration personnel.”
Still, planned interruptions aren’t meant to last more than 24 hours, and Xcel is required to give each customer involved at least 24 hours advance notice in the form of written notification by mail, telephone contact including text message, emails or door tags.
As people wait for power and others wait to see if they’ll get any coin for their trouble, Governor Jared Polis reminds everyone that nothing is the utility workers’ fault.
“I understand everyone's frustration with Xcel's decision to cut power this weekend but please use patience and kindness to frontline utility workers working to RESTORE power to the community,” Polis wrote on X. “They weren't the ones who made the decision. They're just trying to restore power and many of them are working overtime, so let’s be nice.”
