More than 80,000 Colorado homes and businesses were still without power Saturday morning as utility crews worked to repair damage caused by hurricane-force winds that battered the Front Range with gusts over 110 mph on Friday.
Xcel Energy officials expect a “large number” of their outages should be resolved by noon Sunday, though some outages will continue into Monday, the company said in a news release.
Four utility providers reported 88,441 customers without power throughout the mountains, foothills and Denver metro on Saturday morning, including Jefferson, Boulder, Larimer, Weld, Clear Creek, Adams, Gilpin, Denver, Eagle, Grand, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Eagle, Lake, Summit, Douglas and Teller counties.
Xcel Energy crews were responding to 128 power outages impacting 71,099 customers.
CORE Electric officials said outages were impacting 9,412 customers on Saturday morning, followed by United Power with 5,944 customers without power and Poudre Valley Electric with 1,986.
Xcel officials said Friday a large number of the outages were tied to a public safety power shutoff, though the utility’s online outage map lists all of the power cuts as unplanned. This is the second power cut ordered by utility leaders this week, an effort to prevent downed powerlines from starting wildfires during high winds.
“Customers who live in areas where power lines are underground, or do not see damage in their immediate area can still be impacted by a (public safety power shutoff) or power outage due to how their neighborhood connects to the larger grid,” Xcel officials said in a news release.
The utility’s handling of the outages, including the decision to cut power to 50,000 customers Wednesday and 69,000 customers Friday ahead of severe winds, sparked criticism from Gov. Jared Polis on Friday.
In a statement, Polis called on Xcel to provide more transparency and clear communication to customers and echoed concerns he raised after a similar power shutoff in 2024.
Xcel Energy takes issue with “many of the assertions” Polis made, according to a statement sent to JS.
Xcel officials have been communicating with customers and other stakeholders, including Polis’ office, about the windstorms and potential need for power cuts since Sunday, Xcel leaders said.
“Those actions were justified as this event turned into an unprecedented and extreme weather event – ultimately classified as a Particularly Dangerous Situation by the National Weather Service, the first such designation in Colorado’s history,” company officials said.
Xcel leaders also pushed back on the claim that the company’s communication about the outages was lacking.
“We recognize that being without power is difficult and frustrating for our customers, and we don’t take calling a PSPS lightly. Our top priority is always the safety of our customers and communities,” company officials said.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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