Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy is monitoring forecasted strong winds, low relative humidity, and very dry conditions on Wednesday, April 22, and may temporarily shut down power in some Western Slope areas as a precaution against wildfire risk.

Current situation
April 20, 2026, 1:04 p.m. – We continue to prepare for strong winds, low relative humidity and very dry conditions, resulting in high wildfire risk, in parts of western Colorado and the San Luis Valley on Wednesday, April 22, and along the northern Front Range on Thursday, April 23. High winds heighten risk of damage to our power lines and may result in outages.

To reduce the risk of wildfire and support public safety, we are planning for a possible public safety power shutoff (PSPS) beginning on Wednesday, April 22, around 9 a.m. MT for some customers in Garfield, Mesa and Pitkin counties, and around 11 a.m. MT for some customers in Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Rio Grande and Saguache counties.

• Much of the area is experiencing extreme to exceptional drought opens in a new window due to the record warm and dry winter. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for the San Luis Valley for this weather event.

• Customers can look up their address on our outage map to find out if they may be affected by a PSPS event.

Weather conditions are expected to start improving around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22. Crews will begin restoring power as soon as it is safe to do so.

Due to anticipated high winds, outages could take place outside of areas impacted by a PSPS, affecting restoration times. Restoring outages from a significant weather event or PSPS may take several hours to several days. This is because crews must inspect power lines and repair damage before they can be safely re-energized.

Rural, remote, mountainous and other difficult to reach areas could experience extended outages.
enhanced powerline safety settings (EPSS) will be activated in across Colorado. This means power lines are more sensitive and can stop the flow of electricity if an issue, like a tree branch touching the line, is detected. This helps improve public safety during heightened risk conditions.

Xcel Energy will continue to reach out to potentially affected customers as the forecasted weather event approaches. Please know the forecast may change and we will provide updates as needed. We plan to share an update the evening of Monday, April 20.

• We encourage customers to plan for potential power outages in the coming days due to weather, especially those who have medical equipment that relies on electricity.

• The impacted areas and number of customers affected may continue to change as weather conditions evolve and our teams refine the scope of the PSPS event. As forecasts improve in the coming days, we expect to be able to reduce the area and number of customers impacted.

We are continually investing in and building out our systems to reduce the risk of wildfire and limit the size, scale, and duration of potential power disruptions, including system hardening, upgrading electrical components, enhancing vegetation management and expanding technologies like Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings.?Our goal is to limit the impact of a PSPS event as much as possible while effectively managing high wildfire risk.

Thank you for your patience and support as we work to protect the safety of our communities and decrease the risk of wildfire.