Public Utilities Commission hearing regarding April 6 power shutoff

Over the weekend of April 6-7, the greater Boulder County community experienced an extended, planned power outage due to high winds. The decision to cut the power to about 55,000 customers was made by Xcel Energy to prevent potential wildfire hazards in the face of high winds.

An additional 100,000 customers lost power due to fallen power lines and other effects of the wind. Customers waited up to three days before power was restored.

Winds in the area were recorded up to 100 mph according to new data, resulting in several downed power lines along Highway 36 as well as several fallen trees near power lines in the Niwot and Gunbarrel area.

A virtual public comment hearing was hosted on Wednesday April 17 by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies as an investigation into the Public Safety Power Shut-off (PSPS) conducted by Xcel. This was the first utilization of PSPS in Colorado history.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission's (PUC) hearing was intended not to respond to community concerns, but to provide the forum and opportunity to hear comments on what was and was not effective during Colorado’s PSPS. The hearing was moderated by the Chairman of PUC, Eric Blank, with other moderators Megan Gilman (commissioner) and Director of PUC, Rebecca White.

Also in attendance were Boulder County Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann, Councilwoman Rachel Hultin from Wheat Ridge, and Mayor of Boulder, Aaron Brockett.

Many comments voiced by the community, across Boulder County and the Denver-Metro area, were concerns around ineffective and inconsistent communication. This was in conjunction with unreliable information around where the outages were as well as whether or not the shutoff was accurate.

While most people were thankful for the efforts and reasoning behind Xcel’s decision, a three-hour notice either did not feel like sufficient time, or there was no notice at all until after the shutoff occurred. Additionally, concerns were voiced over the fact that with a power shutoff, access to information with no wi-fi or operating cell-towers proved to be a problem. Updates could not only be acquired from an individual standpoint, but for those who did still have access to communication. There were no updates from Xcel during the shutoff.

The inconsistency was also an issue for many, as a handful of people were able to inform PUC that they either received notice for loss of power and never did lose power, or vice-versa. Residents and businesses also notified the PUC during the meeting of attempts to report an outage to Xcel and the claim being denied and the outage map being inaccurate. Inconsistency also manifested in the sense that some customers had 23 hours without power, while others experienced over 72 hours in darkness.

A majority of the public comments were of the same theme stating appreciation behind Xcel and the PUC’s intent for public safety and proactive efforts to prevent potential wildfire hazards. Gratitude was also conveyed for the efforts behind the PUC taking the time for this public comment virtual hearing for the opportunity to provide different experiences.

Due to PUC not responding to any comments, there are still many unknowns as to how residents and businesses are to proceed going forward. It remains unclear regarding the status of revenue and inventory losses by many businesses during the outage who felt they did not have enough preemptive notice to create a method to maintain business operations, with some businesses reporting up to millions of dollars lost without ample time to prepare ways of maintaining business operations and preservation of inventory.

Other concerns around public safety in terms of first-responders, increased burglary in darkness, and health/medical devices not having time to prepare with backup batteries were brought forward as well.

Additional experiences can still be expressed to PUC by going to https://engagedora.org/share-your-feedback-with-the-puc although no definite time frame was provided as to when they will no longer be taking public comment on this forum.