Colorado real estate developer RedT Homes is suing Xcel Energy, alleging years of repeated delays in providing electrical service to its Denver residential projects. Nathan Adams, CEO and owner of RedT Homes, filed the lawsuit because he said the utility’s actions led the company and forced a project into foreclosure.
RedT’s dispute with Xcel comes as the utility faces a growing list of complaints from developers over delays in running electricity to new projects. Last year, a large bottling plant planned near Denver International Airport was scrapped after repeated attempts to get power to the property were unsuccessful. The project moved to El Paso County, where Colorado Springs Utilities will provide the electricity.
Xcel wouldn’t comment on Adams’ lawsuit, and last year the state’s largest utility said the blame for the bottling plant partly rested with the company not providing all the proper information in a timely manner.
“Xcel is a monopoly,” Adams said.
“There is no second choice. There is no negotiating their contracts. It’s take it or leave it.”
Adams’ lawsuit filed on Aug. 25 in Denver District Court centers on projects at 2650 S. Delaware St. and 1642 N. Lafayette St., but RedT said the problems extend across its broader development portfolio.
On the Delaware project, RedT alleges there were at least nine rounds of design changes by Xcel. Across its projects, the company said it dealt with about six changes in Xcel staff over three years, and alleges Xcel lost project files, produced designs that failed to meet its own engineering standards, repeatedly requested information the company had already provided and failed to communicate about transformer shortages despite extended lead times.
“The consequences have been catastrophic,” the complaint said, adding that “construction loans matured and defaulted. . Buyers lost financing and walked away from contracts.”
RedT’s enterprise was valued at more than $25 million in April 2023, according to the complaint. The company alleges its financial distress is “directly attributable to Xcel’s conduct.”
Adams said he has made significant efforts to resolve problems directly with Xcel, including discussions with executives at the company’s corporate office. He said he met with Xcel’s Colorado president, Robert Kenney, and other company officials last year, but the discussions did not produce any reconciliation.
“We gave Xcel another couple of chances and didn’t hear from them, so we’re off and running through the legal channels now,” he said.
The company is demanding a trial and is seeking damages that could exceed $25 million.
Last summer, RedT Homes also with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, calling for an investigation into Xcel Energy’s handling of new residential service requests.
The complaint detailed nearly 5,000 days of cumulative project delays and more than $18 million in direct losses because of what RedT calls “chronic inefficiencies” and “internal errors” at Xcel. Multiple local developers backed RedT Homes, submitting letters urging the PUC to take formal action to address service delays caused by Xcel.
On Sept. 19, 2025, Xcel responded to RedT’s complaint.
In a letter obtained through a public records request, Xcel acknowledged there had been problems and delays with RedT’s projects but said the “vast majority” were not attributable to the company.
Xcel said its “team has worked diligently to complete RedT’s projects in an efficient manner and has, by and large, done so.”
The utility said the delays instead stemmed from “RedT’s requested design changes, multiple redesigns, missed payments, unsigned contracts, and unclear communications.”
More than a month later, PUC staff followed up with RedT and said they could not pursue the matter further through the informal complaint process.
The informal complaint was closed around Oct. 23. RedT did not pursue a formal complaint with the PUC.
Denver-based developer David Pardo also encountered delays with Xcel in early 2024 while working on an accessory dwelling unit in the Speer neighborhood.
Pardo was then the technical founder of accessory-dwelling-unit company nookhaus. In January 2024, the firm contacted Xcel to relocate a power line from a pole to the house behind the ADU.
He said the utility initially suggested a March scheduling window, then pushed the work to April, June, and ultimately late July. Pardo said after the projectap general contractor threatened to report Xcel to the PUC, the utility moved the work up to late June.Four Xcel workers eventually arrived and completed the relocation in hours.
“There wasn’t really anything of any particular complexity at all involved, to be honest,” Pardo said. “It’s kind of inexcusable that Xcel can’t do a four-hour job — five months, it’s kind of nuts.”
In total, Pardo said Xcel’s failure to respond to electrical work within 30 days cost the homeowners $10,000 in lost rent, and the general contractor firm $8,000 in porta-potty expenses, labor, storage fees and materials needed to maintain site safety.
When Swire Coca-Cola moved its bottling plant from vacant land near DIA to Colorado Springs last year, City Council member Stacie Gilmore, who represents Denver’s Far Northeast District 11, told The Post that DIA and Xcel “could not figure out a time-efficient manner to get Coca-Cola power to build out there.”
The project was expected to represent a significant investment in the region and create hundreds of jobs.
“I think that (Xcel’s) role is vital because they are one of the only providers that we’re able to work with. Our hands are really tied,” Gilmore said last week.
“Every delay costs money, and at the end of the day, especially if there are livable‑wage jobs associated with it, we’re keeping that opportunity from Denverites.”
At a Dec. 16 meeting, PUC staff from outreach to multiple large-load customers about their experience with Xcel.
Customers described long delays, inconsistent communication and little clarity about their place in Xcel’s queue. Some also said Xcel has pushed back on customers seeking to generate their own power.
PUC staff found that only one customer received a completed System Impact Study report on time.
Staff also sought records of Xcel’s communications with customers whose projects were delayed. Xcel did not provide those records, telling the PUC that it communicates directly with customers about delays but does not “readily track” those communications.
Xcel told the PUC the delays reflected an unprecedented surge in large-load requests, along with staffing shortages and turnover. The utility received 18 requests in 2024, compared with two or three per year previously.
Xcel did not respond to a request for comment regarding delay management and staff shortages.
