Colorado Regulators Raise Concerns as Xcel Power Outages Climb

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun

If it seems that the lights are going out more frequently in the Xcel Energy service area, it isn’t your imagination: Outages in 2026 are running above historic averages, according to a Colorado Public Utilities Commission analysis.

“In every single month of 2024, 2025 and the first half of 2026, customers have experienced an above-average number of outages,” Nick Bongiardina, a PUC staffer, told the commission during a Sept. 23 review of outages. “This really reflects what customers are expressing they are experiencing.”

After a wave of customer complaints in 2024 with 90,000 customers experiencing a 10-year record of six outages or more, the PUC directed Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electricity provider with 1.6 million customers, to file monthly outage reports with the commission.

Bongiardina’s analysis is based on those reports. “We are on pace in 2026 to have another high year for these outage minutes,” he said.

Between 2015 and 2023 the average minutes of outages per customer was 95 minutes. In the first six months of 2026, the average was already 89 minutes and each outage going forward will likely add to that measure, Bongiardina said.

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