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.
Major winter storms, high wind events and wildfires are not the main reasons for the uptick in outages.
Bongiardina said it was not major events but more frequent blackouts, even though the outages were shorter on average, that are adding to the minutes.
“We are working to verify the Commission’s findings,” Xcel Energy said in a statement. “In the meantime, we will continue our work delivering safe, reliable and affordable energy to our customers while meeting the PUC’s reporting requirements.”
Xcel energy said the aging infrastructure, new demands for electricity and climate risks are challenging the grid. The company is investing $17.6 billion in Colorado through 2030 to meet those needs.
“It seems like this utility has tripled its capital spending from 2021 to 2025, increased its earnings by hundreds of millions of dollars and yet seems like it may be struggling to provide the most basic customer service,’ PUC Chairman Eric Blank said.
Blank asked if this was becoming “an unacceptable new normal” and questioned what is driving the outages.
“We are somewhat disappointed that we are not seeing any improvement yet,” said Erin O’Neill, PUC deputy director of fixed utilities. “But this may not be a long period of time in the maintenance on a system this large. It is certainly concerning.”
O’Neill said more analysis would be needed to get to root causes.
Xcel Energy customers who experience six outages or more, an outage of 18 hours or more, or live in a census tract that collectively had a total of 480 minutes without power automatically receive a credit on their bill.
In 2025, 37,000 customers qualified for credits ranging from $70 to $140 for a total of $3.6 million.
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.