Xcel Energy plans to ramp up its Colorado wildfire mitigation plan by increasing weather awareness and preemptive power shut-offs, investing in new equipment and adding customer support systems, according to a proposal submitted today. But these upgrades come with a price tag for customers: a nearly $9 increase to the average monthly utility bill.
“It’s the nature of the evolution of wildfire risk,” Xcel Energy Colorado President Robert Kenney said. “Wildfire risk is increasing, not just in Colorado and California, but throughout the country.”
Part of the cost that would be passed onto customers comes from plans for Xcel to purchase 93 artificial intelligence cameras on top of the 42 the company already plans to install by the end of the year, Xcel Energy area Vice President Anne Sherwood said.
“These are cameras that rotate 360 degrees every minute, and they use artificial intelligence to identify smoke plumes and send alerts to our public safety partners,” Sherwood said. “We’re going to expand that network from 42 to 135 and that will cover all of our high-risk areas.”
If approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission as submitted, the typical residential bill would increase by 9.56%, or about $8.88 per month, by 2028.
That’s not the only cost customers will see: Kenney said residents and businesses will bear more power shutdowns as wildfire conditions increase. Pre-emptively shutting down the power during windstorms and other high-risk weather will keep blown-down or damaged lines from sparking a blaze in dry vegetation.
The energy utility hopes other measures in the plan will mitigate the need to use the shutdowns and allow Xcel to use them in a more precise manner when it does so, spokesperson Michelle Aguayo said.
Sherwood said other costly additions include burying areas of powerlines underground, increasing inspections and repairs of powerlines and poles, hiring new staff and upgrading technology so damaged lines are less likely to spark and fewer people will be affected for shorter periods by planned outages.
High-risk areas and sections of powerlines to be buried are still being determined, but Sherwood said the utility is considering remoteness and terrain as part of each area’s risk. The higher the wildfire risk, the more likely an area is to see preemptive power shutdowns during extremely windy and dry weather periods.
The proposal comes months after Xcel Energy Colorado in April took the unprecedented step of preemptively cutting power to some parts of the Front Range to minimize the risk of wildfires as 100 mph winds walloped the region and powerlines.
Colorado residents and local officials pushed back against that shutdown, saying there wasn’t enough notice and the company’s communication was frustrating.
Residents and businesses reported losing hundreds of thousands of dollars of food when the electricity went out, critical public facilities were affected and people dependent on oxygen and medical devices that needed power were left vulnerable, people told the PUC.
More preemptive shutdowns are on the horizon for Colorado, but Kenney said Xcel is working to smooth out the problems that surfaced in April.
The goal is to provide more advanced notice for customers so they have time to prepare and take protective measures, Kenney said. Part of the proposed program will also help provide rebates for backup batteries for income-qualified residents who rely on durable medical equipment such as life support machines and ventilators.
To provide that advanced notice, Xcel will add hundreds of weather stations to get detailed information about weather patterns near powerlines and equipment in Colorado, Kenney said. The company will also expand its wildfire risk team to include a department of meteorologists.
Kenney said the goal is to warn first responders and emergency management offices 72 hours before a potential preemptive energy shutdown.
“Then we have plans at 48 and 24 hours to be able to give our customers more precise notice of where and when we would execute those shut-offs,” he said.
Currently, some Xcel powerlines cannot be shut off remotely and require linemen to go out — sometimes in rugged terrain — to operate the breaker, Sherwood said. If the new mitigation program is approved, more than 90% of powerlines could be powered down remotely.
“If we shut off power proactively, even if we’re able to do that remotely, once the wind event passes, we have to go back out and physically look at those lines, either through a foot patrol or through a drone or a helicopter,” Kenney added. “We can’t simply re-energize that line, because if the line was damaged during the wind event and you re-energize that line remotely, then you just created the very risk that you were trying to avoid.”
Kenney denied the updated mitigation plan was motivated by or connected to the 2021 Marshall fire, a stance Xcel has repeatedly upheld.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said the wildfire — which was Colorado’s costliest, destroying $2 billion in property and killing two people — was started by week-old embers on Twelve Tribes property and a sparking Xcel powerline.
The energy company has repeatedly denied fault, calling the investigation flawed even as hundreds of residents, insurance companies and retail giant Target file lawsuits.
“We didn’t start the Marshall fire,” Kenney said. “What’s motivating this plan is the fact that wildfire risk continues to evolve … and we’re taking advantage of new technology. The primary motivation is public safety.”
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