Boulder, Eagle County representatives ask PUC to reopen Xcel outage probe

A City of Boulder representative and an Eagle County climate collaborative director asked Colorado utility regulators Oct. 21 to reopen an investigation into Xcel Energy outages and require the utility to submit a funded reliability plan.

The Boulder representative asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to reopen docket 24I-0394E, update it with recent data and require Xcel to identify equipment at greatest risk of failure. She said the plan should address the condition and maintenance of older infrastructure and explain how to limit costs to ratepayers.

The representative described failures of underground cables, transformers and substation switchgear in Boulder, saying outages had left thousands without power and darkened intersections and major roads.

Kim Burke, climate strategy director for the Climate Action Collaborative at Walking Mountains, spoke about the collaborative’s local-government members Minturn and Red Cliff. Burke said the towns had experienced frequent outages and service disruptions over the past year. She said Minturn had been told by Xcel that aging, deteriorating distribution equipment may contribute to interruptions, and urged the utility to evaluate and replace local lines and related infrastructure.

Burke also said Red Cliff lacks cellular service and that its community center’s backup system cannot keep essential communications equipment operating through an extended outage.

The PUC’s overview of key energy proceedings describes docket 24I-0394E as a formal investigation into a series of electric-service outages in Xcel’s territory. At the Oct. 21 meeting, commissioners questioned the Boulder speaker and thanked both speakers before moving to the next agenda item; the meeting transcript records no vote, order or commitment on their requests.