As extreme weather intensifies across the globe, wildfires have become a growing and well-documented threat to Colorado鈥檚 communities. Some areas of the state now experience 50 additional fire-weather days each year compared to the 1970s.
At Xcel Energy, we are addressing this heightened public safety risk to help keep our customers and communities safe. One of the ways we do this is through a “public safety power shutoff” or what we call a PSPS.
Implementing a power shutdown is not a step we take lightly because we know how disruptive power outages can be. We are proud to deliver a 99.97% reliability rate for our customers, and this is something we work hard to maintain. We deploy power shutdowns only when conditions 鈥� which we evaluate objectively, taking into account a range of factors, including extreme wind speeds, humidity and low fuel moisture 鈥� leave us no other choice.
In December and January, our communities faced periods of extreme weather that significantly elevated the risk of wildfire and prompted us to conduct PSPS events. Doing this was necessary to protect the safety of our customers and communities.
We stand by our decision.
Weather conditions in December were so severe that the National Weather Service issued a “particularly dangerous situation” Red Flag Warning. The sustained hundred-mile-per-hour winds 鈥� combined with other factors like the unusually warm temperatures and dryness of the air and the surrounding terrain 鈥� created extreme risks to public safety, which more than satisfied our criteria to conduct a PSPS.
An inspection of our system after conditions cleared in December revealed significant damage to equipment in hard-to-reach areas near Evergreen and Boulder where a wildfire would have been difficult to contain. While it抖阴ap not possible to estimate the exact damage that could have occurred had these lines been energized, the conditions at the time suggest that any ignition had the potential to become a catastrophic fire. Similarly, the extreme wind we experienced in January prompted the weather service to issue another Red Flag Warning, and a power shutdown in Larimer and Weld counties was necessary.
PSPS events are not the only way we are working to mitigate wildfire risk. As part of our 2025 鈥� 2027 Wildfire Mitigation Plan, Xcel Energy is investing $1.9 billion toward enhancing grid resiliency, maintaining and upgrading our systems and improving customer communications. Our progress in 2025 included expanding our situational awareness capabilities by installing 80 new AI cameras and 102 new weather stations. We visually inspected approximately 3,600 miles of transmission lines and met 108% of our vegetation management target to drive grid resilience and safety. We also hired additional team members to further strengthen our meteorological and risk assessment capabilities.
Although it is a tool we use only in the most extreme weather conditions, public safety power shutdowns are a proven risk reduction strategy and are becoming standard procedure for utilities serving wildfire prone areas. We are taking steps to reduce the time, scope and impact of future PSPS events, including deploying additional devices on our system between now and the end of 2027 to sectionalize our electric system into smaller segments. In certain high-risk areas, we will underground up to 50 miles of distribution lines 鈥� and over 50% of our lines statewide are already underground. And we are using technology to automate portions of the line inspection process to help reduce outage times.
In addition, we are working closely with local leaders, first responders and other organizations to address the ongoing and growing threat of wildfires. As just a few examples, we are partnering with the Red Cross to improve wildfire prevention education resources, and this week we launched a Partners in Prevention education campaign with Rocky Mountain PBS for further education on these issues.
We are committed to doing right by our customers and building a safer, more resilient energy system for the people of Colorado, whom we have proudly served for more than 100 years.
Robert Kenney is the president and CEO of Xcel Energy — Colorado.
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