Xcel Energy took the unprecedented step on Saturday of notifying some 200,000 customers, mostly in the metro Denver area, that if high winds blew down or shorted powerlines, restoration of service might be delayed.

In a statement to The Denver Gazette, Xcel spokesperson Michelle Aguayo said Monday that the power company’s precautionary actions were not powerline shutdowns, but rather were safety precautions to prevent downed or arcing lines from automatically coming back on.

“Dry conditions and high winds combined to create increased wildfire risks in Colorado this weekend,” said Aguayo. “As a result, we operated our electric system in some areas in a manner intended to decrease the risk of wildfire. The electric system returned to normal operations as conditions improved.”

Xcel’s power grid includes what are called “automatic reclosers” that, when the high-voltage circuit breakers trip due to excessive load, will try to reset the breaker to keep power to the grid as much as possible. This reset usually takes place before line crews can respond and figure out what happened.

“On standard settings, the line is tested to see if the fault is still present — for example, a branch touches a wire and then falls to the ground. In those cases, the circuit breaker is reset to start electricity flowing again,” Aguayo said. “Momentary outages — when power goes off for a few seconds (like when the lights flicker) — are a sign the system is working the way it’s supposed to.”

Over the weekend, Xcel turned off the automatic reclosers so that any powerline spike that trips a circuit breaker wouldn’t reenergize the affected line until crews visually checked the entire line for safety, according to the company.

“We advised about 200,000 customers in Colorado this weekend that, while this was not a proactive step to turn off their power, this approach could mean that if power outages did occur, they may have lasted longer than usual,” Aguayo said. “Overall, the system performed very well this weekend.”

Xcel is already facing hundreds of lawsuits over the Dec. 30, 2021, wind-driven Marshall Fire. It’s also now facing at least one lawsuit in Texas claiming the enormous Smokehouse Creek Fire was started by a faulty Xcel power pole that fell and sparked the 1.1-million-acre fire that is still burning in the Texas Panhandle, according to Reuters.

Power companies in California have taken even more proactive steps to prevent powerline arcing by shutting down main distribution lines when high winds are forecast. Some of the shutdowns have affected hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. According to the California Public Utilities Commission, there were 14 instances of power shutdowns in three regions in 2023.

In January 2020, the California Public Utilities Commission imposed a $2.137 billion penalty against Pacific Gas and Electric Company for the utility’s role in the deadly Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and burned more than 153,000 acres. The fire started Nov. 8, 2018, when an energized 115 kilovolt transmission line fell and arced against the metal tower due to a “critically worn C-hook” supporting the conductor wire igniting a rotting tree beneath the lines.

Since California’s catastrophic 2017-2018 fire season, there has been increased scrutiny of powerline infrastructure in the west, including in Xcel’s service area.

“Since 2019, we’ve invested over $450 million in wildfire mitigation activities to help protect lives, homes and Colorado’s forests from the threat of wildfire under our Wildfire Mitigation Program,” according to Xcel’s website. 

Xcel has upgraded their system in critical areas “to instantly interrupt the flow of energy through a power line segment when a fault is detected, such as a tree branch or other object making contact with the power line, to prevent the potential ignition of ground fuel.”

Xcel is also installing an artificial intelligence camera network in the mountains to detect fires more quickly before they get out of control.

This time, Xcel’s system and planning worked well.

“We did not cut power to anyone,” said Aguayo. “We did have one outage that lasted about 100 minutes and impacted about 500 customers, due to this change.”

“Customers are also encouraged to update their communication preferences on the app or website,” Aguayo added. “The safe delivery of power to our customers and the safety of our crews are our top priorities.”