Xcel Energy explains Jan. 16 wind outage: EPSS kept town on a single feed until gusts severed it

Xcel Energy said a combination of wildfire mitigation work, enhanced power-line safety settings and a public safety power shutoff (PSPS) strategy shaped how crews responded to a Jan. 16 windstorm that led to outages across Northern Colorado and a prolonged outage in Wellington.

Hans Rodvik, Xcel's Northern Colorado area manager for community and local government affairs, told the trustees the company submitted a wildfire-mitigation plan in 2024 of roughly $2,100,000,000 and received regulatory approval for just under $2,000,000,000 to invest over three years. Much of that funding will go to physical system upgrades such as pole replacements, targeted undergrounding and vegetation management, he said.

Rodvik described two tools the utility uses to reduce fire risk: enhanced power-line safety settings (EPSS), which make lines more sensitive and can automatically de-energize a section if disturbances are detected, and public safety power shutoffs (PSPS), a last-resort, proactive outage used only when certain weather, humidity and fuel-condition thresholds are met. "We try to use these as minimally as possible," Rodvik said. "The company does not gain anything from them." He added that EPSS is implemented in higher-risk tiers and PSPS is used when a trifecta of high winds, very low humidity and hazardous fuels makes the fire risk unacceptable.

Rodvik said Wellington was initially kept off the PSPS and instead placed in enhanced settings; operations later moved the town to an alternate feeder to keep power on, but high gusts later caused the feed to de-energize. "We restored all of the customers in the PSPS zone by about 8 p.m.," he said, and added that Wellington came back closer to 10 p.m. "We kept power on a few extra hours, but once the wind started happening, it was a no go," he said.

Rodvik described the notice cadence Xcel uses: notifying emergency managers roughly 72 hours out, town staff between 72 and 48 hours, and customer-facing messaging beginning around 48 hours and ramping up to the 24-hour mark. He also said 50-plus crew teams were staged in the region and that crews cannot safely operate bucket trucks if gusts remain above roughly 40 mph.

Trustees and residents pressed the company on communications and the public outage map. Trustee Daley said the town's outage-map reporting did not match the reality in Wellington on Jan. 16, noting residents saw inconsistent or missing information. Rodvik acknowledged that the public map was imperfect in places and urged town staff to flag community outages directly to him so Xcel can investigate and follow up. He also said the company was working to improve near-real-time outage visibility.

Residents and trustees raised the impact on vulnerable residents and businesses. Tracy Moore, who said she works in disaster recovery, told the board: "I would much rather take a day without power than a day without a loved one or my home," praising proactive safety measures while urging coordination on emergency plans for residents who rely on medical devices. Rodvik said a pilot battery program for qualified medical-device customers in risk tiers 2 or 3 is being stood up and that the company is partnering with the American Red Cross and county emergency managers to provide resource centers and on-site services when needed.

Trustees asked about rebates or claims for lost business revenue during PSPS events; Rodvik said Xcel has a claims process but acknowledged it is often imperfect and urged affected businesses to submit claims. He also said the utility is deploying sectionalizing devices to limit the footprint of future shutoffs and is investing in cameras, weather stations and outage-map improvements as part of the approved mitigation funding.

Rodvik closed by offering his direct contact for follow-up and saying Xcel will continue to refine communications, restoration practice and technology deployments in the area.