Xcel Energy’s preemptive power outage last weekend left more than 35,500 City of Boulder customers without electricity, city manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde told city councilmembers on Thursday, April 11, releasing the details for the first time. Some residents experienced power outages for nearly three days, she said.
“We were faced this weekend with a significant challenge with very little warning,” Rivera-Vandermyde said. She added, “Despite the fact that we had few details, we knew our community would need our support.”
As previously reported by Boulder Reporting Lab, Rivera-Vandermyde told councilmembers that city officials first learned that Xcel was considering a planned outage at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 5. Details around the specific locations, timing and criteria used by Xcel to preemptively de-energize the city remained unclear, as staff questions went unanswered, a spokesperson told Boulder Reporting Lab. Officials were then notified at 10 a.m. on Saturday that Xcel was cutting off power that afternoon, Rivera-Vandermyde said, leaving city officials with just hours to prepare.
The city had to call up additional police officers to manage traffic at intersections where traffic signals were down due to the power outage. Kurt Firnhaber, the city’s director of Housing and Human Services, brought his personal power generator to the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, which was without electricity Saturday night. The fire department responded to several people stuck in elevators during the first hour of the outage. City officials also provided hotel rooms for two people who relied on medical equipment that required electricity. The city’s water treatment plant lost power, nearly sending raw sewage into Boulder Creek. City employees diverted overflows into an empty storage tank that happened to be empty due to construction.
The recounting by the city manager highlights the scramble caused by what is widely considered Xcel’s inadequate communication before and during the planned power outage. Many critical facilities — schools, assisted living centers, medical facilities, food banks and other businesses — were caught off guard, sometimes with an hour or less to prepare before lights went out.
The utility shut down power to 55,000 customers in an effort to prevent a wildfire during the April 6-7 wind storm, when forecasts indicated winds could reach speeds of 100 miles per hour. In the days following the windstorm, the company shared photos with the Public Utilities Commission showing downed trees on lines that were preemptively shut down, underscoring the possibility that a wildfire may have been averted. Another 100,000 customers lost power from the wind storm in and around Boulder County.
Residents, businesses and elected officials have mainly criticized the company for its inadequate communication and short notice of the shutdown, which some say needlessly put public safety at risk. Hours into the outage, confusion was heightened by Boulder’s complex electric grid, which made the outages seem random, and Xcel’s vague map of the proposed outage area. As climate change raises the risk of wildfires being ignited by downed powerlines and other utility equipment, the fallout suggests a more coherent strategy around planned shutdowns is necessary.
“It’s incredible we didn’t suffer tragedy,” Councilmember Ryan Schuchard said after the city manager’s presentation on Thursday.
Some councilmembers have called on Xcel Energy to compensate customers for their losses during the outage, citing spoiled food as a particular concern. Some restaurant owners said they lost thousands of dollars worth of food. Community Food Share, a food bank in Louisville, said it lost roughly one ton of refrigerated and frozen foods at its warehouse, according to a news release.
Councilmember Mark Wallach said as a first step, Xcel should compensate the food bank for its lost food.
“These providers are already under great stress, with too many in need and not enough food to provide to them,” Wallach wrote in an email to residents ahead of Thursday’s council meeting. “This is only the beginning of the conversation, but at least it shows a minimal sense of decency.”
Rivera-Vandermyde said the city has sent Xcel an invitation to have a representative at next week’s council meeting on April 18.
It’s important for organizations, companies, and households to have a backup plan for when there are extended outages. The water treatment plant should have had it’s backup generation available, for example, as should those with medical needs. Backup generation is common, but it appears not common enough. Schools need enough backup to keep kids safe, streetlights need backup batteries so they don’t go down completely (most will go to blinking red/yellow mode).
Hi William, I was thinking that Xcel, counties, organizaions, companies and households do need to have a backup plan. I am hoping that this event will be a teaching lesson for everyone involved. Thanks!
The original idea was for power to not automatically restart when it is windy in case a line is broken, sparks, and starts a wildfire. This has morphed to something way more risk adverse and has gone too far. In the city, when the wind stops, turn power back on. If sparks are detected or a fire starts, there is no wind to spread it and people will report it. Maybe have a more conservative approach in the mountains.
Xcel’s mistake was not turning the power back on swiftly after the winds subsided. I can understand that they operated out of an abundance of caution, but the point that they missed was that any fires that might have been caused by turning the power on before all lines could be visually inspected were unlikely to be of a severe nature BECAUSE the wind had stopped. Had there been no wind on the day of the Marshall Fire, such a sparked fire surely would have been quickly contained. They should figure this into their thinking for future wind events.
Yes Steve, and why didn’t they cut the power with a much stronger wind and drier conditions AND a known unmaintained wire at the Marshall fire?
Let’s not forget that Boulder County itself also has some work to do regarding public outreach. Marshall has had an ongoing coal seam fire for 100 years. When I mentioned this to my community I was met with “conspiracy theory” until I produced the state documents on mine fires. People who bought anything downwind of that should have been made aware. The failure to communicate is on ALL levels. Our little mountain town cannot open an emergency shelter without the county asking for one. We, the unhoused, have been asking for quite some time. We are lucky our local community center and food bank staff and volunteers took it upon themselves to do the right thing and open. While the county has rural mountain towns, we seem to be an abandoned playground when it comes to planning.