Colorado Public Utilities Commission to establish rules for planned power outages in state
After four Xcel Energy power shutoffs in the past nine months, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission is taking action.
The director of the PUC told state lawmakers the regulatory agency is creating rules to help mitigate the impact of "Public Safety Power Shutoffs," which are meant to reduce the risk of a wildfire in high wind events.
The news came during a hearing by the Colorado House and Senate energy committees, where lawmakers grilled the president of Xcel, Robert Kenney.
Republic state Sen. Byron Pelton, who represents Morgan County, told Kenney, when power is cut to feed lots in rural Colorado, cattle lose access to water.
Democratic state Sen. Tammy Story, who represents Jefferson County, says the shutoffs have had devastating impacts on people who rely on medical equipment and business owners.
Kenney insisted Xcel is only using PSPS as a last resort.
"PSPS is not the go-to tool," Kenney told lawmakers. "It is a tool and one that we don't want to use the most extreme weather conditions dictate."
Kenney says Xcel is working to reduce the number and duration of shutoffs by burying 50 miles of line in high-risk areas, covering bare wires and replacing small wires with reinforced lines. He says the company is also using 120 high-tech cameras to pinpoint fires and 100 weather stations to monitor conditions.
"We're not doing to avoid litigation because I don't think it would avoid litigation," Kenney said. "Because people are gonna sue us if they want to sue us. We're doing this to prevent an ignition. Everything we're doing is to protect the public safety from catastrophic wildfire."
But there are tradeoffs. Quinlynn Witucki told lawmakers her family owns Boone Mountain Sports, and they lost $200,000 during a three-day shutoff.
"If the state can support large businesses like Amazon, data centers and immigration detention centers, then, the state should support small, family-owned businesses from the loss and future losses from big companies and energy companies alike, and the choices that these companies make," Witucki told lawmakers.
The Public Utilities Commission is making tough choices too. It approved a $2 billion wildfire mitigation plan by Xcel, but PUC Director Rebecca White warned lawmakers that's just the beginning.
"It's $4 million a mile, I believe, to bury lines," White told lawmakers. "So that is what we're going to have to wrangle with the state and the commission is how fast do we move? How much does that cost rate payers? How do you balance that against impact of pubic safety power shutoffs?"
Xcel says it would take $15 billion and 10 years to bury all 82,000 miles of distribution lines.
The PUC is hoping to finalize rules around power shutoffs by late summer or early fall. It's unclear how prescriptive it will be.
The agency is taking public comment at its meeting next week Wednesday, Feb 4.
