Xcel Energy announced on March 13 that it is preparing for a strong wind event and a likely Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) scheduled to begin around 2 p.m. on March 14, potentially affecting about 18,000 customers in Boulder and Jefferson counties. The company said the National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning due to very high winds and dry conditions along the Front Range, with forecasts indicating this will be the warmest and driest day of heightened fire danger.
The planned PSPS aims to reduce wildfire risk and support public safety as severe weather conditions are expected. Xcel Energy reported it was able to lower the number of customers anticipated to be impacted by the shutoff. While weather conditions may start improving between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., high winds that could create wildfire risks are expected to continue through the weekend, possibly causing outages outside of designated PSPS areas.
Restoration efforts will begin after high winds subside and crews can safely patrol power lines. The company warned that power restoration could take several hours or even days because each line must be checked before being re-energized. Given continued high wind forecasts into Saturday, outages may persist into Sunday.
Xcel Energy is reaching out to potentially affected customers with updates throughout the event. Customers can find information on how to prepare, stay safe, report outages, and check if their address may be affected by visiting the Xcel Energy Event Update webpage or following Xcel Energy on Facebook and X.
The company encourages all customers to build an emergency kit with essentials such as battery-powered radios, flashlights, bottled water, non-perishable food, backup phone chargers, first aid kits, extension cords, and instructions for manually opening power-operated doors. Customers who rely on medical equipment powered by electricity are urged to take extra precautions in case of extended outages.
Customers can report outages through multiple channels: via the Xcel Energy mobile app available in app stores, online at xcelenergy.com/out, by texting OUT or STAT to 98936 for outage status updates, or by calling 1-800-895-1999.
