Broken utility poles on Monday came down along U.S. 36 between Lefthand Canyon Drive and Nelson Road in Boulder County after high winds were reported over the weekend. Officials from Boulder, Jefferson and Larimer counties met on Wednesday with executives from Xcel Energy, seeking answers to concerns constituents raised about extended power outages in the wake of last weekend’s wind storm.
Amabile directly questioned Xcel executives on when they decided to roll out the power shutdown policy in Colorado. “Was that four days ago? Or was that always the plan, or has been the plan for a while?” she asked. Other Xcel representatives pointed out that there were around 250,000 customers impacted by power outages from the wind storm. In addition to the 55,000 customers affected by the planned shutdown, there were nearly 200,000 other customers who unexpectedly lost power due to the storm, the company said.
Wednesday’s meeting came in response to a letter state Rep. Joseph had sent to Xcel on Monday expressing her disappointment and concern with Xcel’s handling of the wind storm. Joseph wrote she had received more than 100 complaints from constituents, some of which she attached to her letter.