Xcel Energy to slow power restoration amid high winds across Colorado

With high winds in the forecast for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday across parts of Colorado, Xcel Energy is warning customers in heavy wind forecast areas that outages will be handled differently. It's called Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings. 

What it doesn't mean is planned outages that brought a lot of complaints in December and January. The enhanced powerline safety settings mean that when power goes off due to a line fault. It stays off.

"Power will remain off until crews can visually inspect power lines to make sure it is safe to turn them back on. This may mean that if an outage occurs, it could last longer," said Xcel in a statement.

Xcel Energy Colorado's Andrew Holder, director of community relations and local government affairs, explained that devices known as re-closers trip when there are power line faults. They automatically attempt three times to re-energize the line. But in the enhanced powerline safety setting, the devices will not attempt to re-energize the lines. Xcel says it has meteorologists working on forecasts for areas where winds are likely to be most intense. Both Thursday and Saturday are getting focus due to expected high winds.  "We are able to be very strategic in regard to where we employ EPSS," said Holder. 

"We've got oxygen machines, we've got heat, obviously. Garage door opener. I mean, everything you can think of, our internet... working from home. So it's a big deal," said Carol Peck, a homeowner on Lookout Mountain, where a crew is replacing power poles with ones that are more fire-resistant. 

Xcel has been the subject of criticism for its planned outages and their duration. 

"At no point do I want to make it seem like we're at the final destination. I think we've made a lot of improvement in regards to the first time we used PSPS, which was in April of 2024, to what we've just done here in December and January along the Front Range," said Holder.

"The last time we had, I think five days here without power," said Peck. They bought a generator after the last planned outage. 

"The flip side is we don't want fires burning down the hill or the city, anything like that, so I understand the dilemma," she said. "So we'll see if this works better."