DENVER — In a hearing that lasted almost five hours on Friday afternoon, Colorado lawmakers from both the House of Representatives and State Senate had countless questions for Xcel Energy regarding their Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS).
The planned power outages are intended to mitigate the risk of wildfires, but have sparked backlash from impacted communities. The PSPS events occur when there are extreme winds, low relative humidity, and very dry fuels.
The President of Xcel Energy, Robert Kenney, told lawmakers the very first PSPS was implemented in April of 2024. There were two in December of 2025 in response to hurricane-strength winds whipping through the Front Range foothills, and another in January of this year across Larimer and Weld counties.
Boulder businesses lost an average of $25,000 during the December shutoff, according to a survey conducted by the Boulder Chamber.
“We’re confident we made the right decision with the Public Safety Power Shutoff in December," Kenney told legislators from both the House Energy and Environment and Senate Transportation and Energy Committees.
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Kenney continued to say that having two intense windstorms back-to-back near the end of 2025 was "unprecedented."
“Once the weather clears, we cannot immediately turn power back on," Kenney explained.
The Xcel Energy president said there must be an inspection of the system before energy can be restored. He said that during the inspection after the December shutoffs, there was damaged equipment found which could have started a wildfire.
Still, Kenney said the power company is working to "improve the time, scope, and impact" of the power outages, and aims to become more precise when determining what parts of the grid they de-energize.
According to Xcel Energy's Wildfire Mitigation Plan, the company must bury 50 miles of lines in high-risk areas like Boulder and Larimer Counties, along with other locations along the Front Range. That work is expected to begin in the spring.
Kenney told the lawmakers that Xcel Energy has been working to incorporate lessons they have learned from prior PSPS events into future situations.
According to data from the energy company, they visually inspected approximately 3,600 miles of transmission lines, installed 80 new cameras equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities, and implemented 102 new weather systems in 2025.
Then came the questions from Colorado lawmakers, with the Chair of the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee, State Senator Lisa Cutter, doing her best to keep the hearing moving along on schedule.
Still, the hearing lasted roughly an hour longer than anticipated.
State Representative Lori Garcia Sander, R — District 65, was the first legislator to question Kenney. She said she received "tons of calls" from constituents who were affected by the planned power outages.
Sander continued to ask Kenney "how are you ensuring customers that your PSPS decisions aren't driven by litigation avoidance, rather than actual fire risk?"
"We maintain that we didn't start the Marshall Fire. People are going to sue us regardless. So, this is not a litigation avoidance technique. I don't know that there's any other way to assure people of that fact, other that for me to say it," Kenney replied.
Meanwhile, State Representative Jenny Willford, D — District 34, told Kenney about one of her constituents who lives with stage 4 cancer and is on oxygen. According to Willford, the resident was stressed by the looming power shutoff, and tried to get the correct information from the energy company about if his home would be impacted.
However, Willford claimed that when he called Xcel Energy, he was told he should go to the emergency room if he was concerned about losing his power.
"You all feel like you’ve done a satisfactory job or even an improved job in communicating with customers," Willford said to Kenney. "I flat out disagree."
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State Representative Tammy Story, D — District 25, represents Jefferson County. She explained that when people in her district lose power, many lose access to water too, since they operate off of wells.
Story said she received calls from constituents who had to bundle up inside of their homes, which were sitting around 49 degrees — and in one instance, was as cold as 33 degrees.
Story said that if "all this loss of power happened, and then we had those really sub-zero temperatures that we just had last weekend, we're cooked up there."
Kenney explained that a PSPS is not the "go to plan," and instead is a tool they do not want to use unless extreme weather events dictate it. He said Xcel Energy uses the planned shutoffs sparingly, and with the goal of protecting the public from a catastrophic wildfire.
State Representative Lesley Smith, D — District 49, asked Kenney if there was a plan Xcel Energy is developing to financially help businesses that suffered economic damages. The Xcel Energy president said the company does not typically compensate for loss of food, business, and wages.
Members of the public were also given the chance to speak to lawmakers.
One of them, connected to Boone Mountain Sports in Evergreen, said that during the December shutoffs the business lost more than $200,000. She argued that small businesses should not shoulder the cost of the shutoffs, adding that if it continues to happen, it will cripple the business.
The hearing, which began at 1 in the afternoon, concluded just before 5 p.m.
