At least 9,000 Northern Colorado customers could see their power shut off as early as 8 a.m. Friday morning.
Xcel Energy, the state’s largest energy provider, says it plans to cut power off as part of its public safety power shutdown — an initiative started in 2024 to reduce the risk of a downed line sparking a wildfire — for parts of Larimer and Weld counties.
Forecasters expect wind gusts of 60 to 70 miles-per-hour across Larimer and Weld counties, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning for the area from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those gusts are expected to peak Friday morning and should improve over the weekend.
Meteorologist Bruno Rodriguez said Saturday may still be breezy, but winds are expected to ease and higher humidity should reduce fire danger.
Unseasonably warm weather, a dwindling snowpack, and generally dry conditions have exacerbated fire risk around the state. Last month, approximately 115,000 customers were impacted by Xcel’s most recent public safety power shutdown across the Front Range.
The utility initially announced its plan to shut power off for Northern Colorado customers on Tuesday morning. But despite Xcel Energy’s claims that customers were notified days in advance, many Northern Colorado businesses say they were still unaware of a potential power shutoff less than 24 hours before it could begin. Those who were aware of the possibility say they learned about it from sources other than the utility.
Nicholas Martel, general manager of the Bulldog Pub and Grub in Greeley, said he had no idea a shutoff was being considered. Martel has worked at the restaurant for more than 12 years and said the business, which sits across the street from two high schools, serves at least 40 students each day during the lunch hour. Losing power, he said, would be “detrimental.”
Less than 20 miles away in Severance, Jenn, a general manager at Bruce’s Bar and Restaurant, who asked that her last name not be used, said she also had not been contacted by Xcel Energy.
“It isn’t even on our radar yet, to be honest,” Jenn told CPR News. “You’d think they would be letting us know as business owners — that’s something we need to know just to operate day to day. We’re not worrying about it because we haven’t been told it’s happening to us.”
Clare Burnett, a manager at Lima Coffee Roasters on Mason Street in Fort Collins, says she heard about the outage from a Reddit thread, but the coffee shop has yet to hear from the utility directly.
In response to those concerns, Xcel Energy spokesperson Andrew Holder said the company uses multiple channels to notify customers ahead of potential shutoffs, including social media, direct texts, phone calls and emails.
“Look, we try to find multiple different ways to inform our customers of information that we are sending out,” Holder told CPR News. “We want customers to have the information they need to stay safe and be prepared. So we just implore our customers to make sure that they update their contact information.”
Holder said the utility is also working with local partners — including municipalities and chambers of commerce — to help spread the word.
A manager at Pedro’s Coffee Shop in Timnath said that the effort did reach her, adding that she learned about the shutoff through a local chamber of commerce contact, not directly from the utility.
