COLUMBINE HILLS, Colo. — Community members in a neighborhood just north of Chatfield State Park are fed up with the number of power outages in their neighborhood, and they've reached out to Denver7 to share their concerns.
Kelsey Wilson emailed Denver7 this week: "We are experiencing consistent power outages. I woke up this morning at 3:00 o’clock drenched in sweat to discover our power was out." She went on to add, "I have lost microwaves, refrigerators, and thousands of dollars in food. We call Xcel, we file complaints, we allow xcel to dig in our property for updates and repairs, and nothing is better. No is changing. The government has allow this monopoly of power to continue. Can Denver 7 help us!?!"
▶️ WATCH: Denver7's Danielle Kreutter met with Wilson to hear more about her experience
On the drive over, power went out at Wilson's house again.
"So right when you guys were on your way, 10:47 we lost power," Wilson shared while pointing out an Xcel notification about the outage.
Wilson said that will have been the third time in 24 hours. Her microwave and oven were still flashing after the power failure. She said she doesn't bother resetting those clocks anymore.
"I don't know who's defining reliable, but that's not reliable to me," said Wilson.
It's not just the outage on Thursday — she said it's been a frequent problem since she moved there 14 years ago. It's a particularly painful problem in the summer heat and the winter cold.
"It's getting to the point where it's we have ice packs in the freezer, so that in the hot summers when we don't have power, we can sleep with ice packs. We have stored blankets in the basement," said Wilson.
Denver7 reached out to Xcel on Wednesday to find out just how often Wilson and her neighbors have had to deal with these outages over the last few years.
By Xcel's standards, there have been four outages so far this year, eight in 2025 and another eight in 2024.
However, Public Utilities Commission records show in the last two years, there have been at least 30 outages at Wilson's home alone.
"All we get back is, 'Hey, if you lose power for five minutes, doesn't count. Hey, if it's a planned shut off, it doesn't count.' And you know, for me, it counts! My my internet goes out, my refrigerator goes down, my microwave goes down," Wilson said.
Xcel confirmed they only count unplanned outages that last more than five minutes, adding: "Outages can be caused by a number of factors – weather, cars hitting poles, animal contact, or technical problems."
Xcel said they are aware of increased outages last year due to needed work for their enhanced powerline safety settings.
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The company also acknowledged they are aware of an issue in the area and are investigating. They said crews work as quickly as possible to safely restore power in any outage situation.
"I know it's not going to be a reasonable plan to go take all these old neighborhoods that have the overhead power lines to underground, but is there a plan?" Wilson wondered.
After dealing with this for years, she's hoping Xcel will listen to neighbors and make some changes.
While Xcel didn't say there was a current plan to improve infrastructure in Columbine Hills specifically, a spokesperson told Denver7 that the company is always looking for ways to increase the resiliency and safety of their systems.
