Colorado utility regulators have started writing the first formal rules for how Xcel Energy handles preemptive power shutoffs during dangerous winds, a process focused on improving how customers are warned before their lights go out. The rules won't be finalized until 2027, and a public hearing is set for November 23, but the draft already signals one disappointment for residents and business owners: no requirement that Xcel pay them back for spoiled food, lost products or missed customers when the power goes dark.
What the New Rules Would and Wouldn't Do
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has begun the process of creating rules for Xcel Energy's public safety power shutoffs, according to The Denver Post. The commission wants improved coordination between Xcel, its customers and public safety agencies, and it says Xcel needs to do a better job communicating the timing, scope and restoration plans for shutoffs before and during an event. It remains unclear whether the proposed rules would include penalties for failures in shutoff notifications and communication.
What the rules will not do is require Xcel to compensate residents for lost food or businesses for lost products and customers when the power is cut. The commission's Erin O'Neill said the rules will set expectations for utilities and enable reporting and follow-up on notification and other requirements, the newspaper reported. The draft is still subject to change during the formal rulemaking process, and the commission plans to hold public hearings and accept public comments before anything is finalized in 2027.
A History of Wind-Driven Blackouts
Xcel Energy adopted public safety power shutoffs in Colorado after the 2021 Marshall fire. Power companies in California and Oregon also use similar preemptive outages to prevent or minimize damage from power lines blown down in strong winds. The utility's first actual preemptive shutoff came ahead of a 2024 windstorm, cutting electricity to 55,000 customers, some of whom went without power for days afterward. Xcel went on to conduct two more preemptive shutoffs that December and January.
The scale of those outages triggered backlash. The commission launched an investigation after widespread complaints about Xcel's shutoffs, and the Colorado General Assembly summoned the utility's Colorado chief executive to testify at the state capitol. Xcel's Sydney Isenberg said the company uses proactive power shutoffs solely to protect public safety, weighing factors including wind speeds, relative humidity, fuel moisture, temperature, and critical customers and infrastructure before pulling the plug.
The Shadow of the Marshall Fire
The debate over shutoffs is inseparable from the Marshall fire, the 2021 blaze that burned more than 1,000 homes in Boulder County and killed two people. An investigation attributed the fire to an Xcel power line that snapped during hurricane-force winds and sent sparks onto dry vegetation, according to the Post's reporting. Xcel disputes that its equipment caused the fire, even though the company agreed to pay $640 million to settle a lawsuit brought by more than 4,000 people and businesses.
Xcel's Robert Kenney has said the company uses power shutoffs sparingly and judiciously in the most extreme weather conditions, deploying them when its team predicts other wildfire-mitigation methods will not be enough. Isenberg said Xcel will review its next steps once it receives the commission's written order, and that the utility will continue working with the commission and the community on how public safety power shutoffs are handled going forward.
How Other States Handle Shutoff Warnings
Colorado's push for clearer notification standards echoes practices already in place elsewhere. Montana-based NorthWestern Energy, which says it uses shutoffs only in extreme situations during severe fire weather, follows a phased approach that moves through monitoring, watch, warning, alert, shutoff, restoration and closeout stages, per NorthWestern Energy.
Under that utility's watch phase, potentially affected customers get an automated call, text or email two to three days before a shutoff; during the warning phase, customers are notified one to two days beforehand. NorthWestern says its crews begin restoring power only after dangerous weather and fire risks have passed and lines and equipment have been inspected for damage.
For now, Coloradans affected by future shutoffs will have to wait for the rulemaking to play out. The November hearing marks the next formal step, but finalization is not expected until 2027.
