Tens of thousands of Colorado homes and businesses were still without power on Saturday after two hurricane-force wind storms caused widespread outages across the Front Range.
Hundreds of Xcel Energy workers should restore electricity to most customers by 10 p.m. Saturday, company officials said in a news release.
“Restoration for some customers may extend into Sunday due to severe damage and the location of the damage,” Xcel officials said Saturday morning. “Crews must visually inspect the lines for damage before repairs can be made and power restored.”
Xcel started the day with 71,099 customers impacted by power outages, which dropped to 42,508 customers without power as of 2:30 p.m.
Four utility providers reported approximately 53,000 customers without power throughout the mountains, foothills and Denver metro on Saturday afternoon, including Jefferson, Boulder, Larimer, Weld, Clear Creek, Adams, Gilpin, Denver, Eagle, Grand, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Eagle, Lake, Summit, Douglas and Teller counties.
CORE Electric officials said outages were impacting 7,094 customers on Saturday afternoon, followed by United Power with approximately 2,500 customers without power and Poudre Valley Electric with 948.
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 The Denver Post.
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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