BOULDER, Colo. — The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is taking its first step into investigating Xcel Energy's decision to implement precautionary outages for thousands of Coloradans ahead of a dangerous windstorm earlier this month with a virtual hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Nearly 55,000 Xcel customers were impacted by the outages, and while some of the customers who lost power were homeowners, others were business owners who lost thousands of dollars because of it.
"We heard from an employee, we didn't get reached. Excel didn't reach out to us as a business, we heard from an employee who said, 'Hey, did you get this text, they might be shutting down the power at three o'clock," said Bobby Stuckey, who owns Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder.
His staff had spent the entire first half of the day prepping for a busy Saturday shift when he heard about the outage.
"Three o'clock, like, 3:01, boom electricity went out," he said. "We had to shut down."
The impact of that outage was major for Stuckey. He lost nearly $100,000 in labor and food costs for both Frasca and a second restaurant he owns, combined.
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"A restaurant is different than a clothing store or a shoe store for us to close down. It takes so much to open and so much to close," Stuckey said.
The bottom line for Stuckey is he wanted clearer communication from Xcel about the outages.
"We were trying to get information from Xcel, which was not very helpful and we couldn't get information," he said. "The closest information we had was their Twitter account and I think it said electricity wouldn't be restored until 11 the next day."
Better communication with business owners is what the Boulder Chamber of Commerce is now asking of Xcel.
The commerce has created a survey for business owners to learn more about how each was impacted and what solutions they think could work in a possible future situation.
"Information was critical," said John Tayer, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce President and CEO. "Knowing what they expected in terms of who would be out and for how long of a period of time."
Tayer said he's hoping something positive comes from the hearing and ultimately, business and homeowners have a bit more of a heads up if Xcel ever chooses to shutdown power preemptively again.
"We all can do better and making sure that our businesses have the precise information so they can prepare their operations and that they are in a position to respond most effectively," he said.
