‘Simply not acceptable’: Boulder City Council warns Xcel over prolonged power shutoffs, missed climate targets

The Boulder City Council is expected this week to send a sharply worded letter to Xcel Energy outlining what it describes as “major concerns” over the utility’s failure to meet emissions targets, its use of prolonged power shutoffs and rising costs for customers.

The draft letter also makes clear that, despite those concerns, the city is not seeking to exit its franchise agreement with Xcel at this time. Voters approved that agreement in 2020, ending a yearslong municipalization effort in which Boulder sought to leave Xcel and form its own electric utility. The franchise agreement laid out a series of commitments from Xcel and identified specific years in which the city could choose to exit the deal. Exiting the agreement requires a two-thirds vote by the city council or the passage of a ballot measure. 

The letter details a series of grievances, including Xcel’s reliance on extended power shutoffs as a wildfire prevention tool. During windstorms in December 2025, thousands of customers in Boulder lost power for days. City officials said the outages put residents of an assisted living facility at risk of losing access to oxygen. The outages also cost local businesses tens of thousands of dollars on average, according to the Boulder Chamber. Emails obtained by Boulder Reporting Lab showed that Xcel’s 2024 power shutoff brought Boulder’s wastewater treatment plant within minutes of spilling untreated sewage into Boulder Creek.

The letter states it is “simply not acceptable” for power to be shut off for days at a time. It calls on Xcel to develop a plan to reduce both the frequency and impact of shutoffs, make “substantial progress” on hardening the electric grid and compensate customers who suffer financial losses as a result of outages.

The letter states the shutoffs are “a consequence of prioritizing litigation avoidance ahead of protecting our community” and that Xcel has “eroded the trust of your customers.”

Under the franchise agreement, Xcel committed to specific greenhouse gas reduction targets. The company has pledged to eliminate coal-fired electricity by 2030. About half of Xcel’s supply in Colorado in 2025 came from coal and natural gas combined. 

The utility has missed the local emissions benchmarks outlined in its agreement with Boulder for both 2022 and 2024, according to city officials. The city will have multiple opportunities over the next five years to opt out of the franchise agreement.

“Two missed milestones out of two is not a positive start,” the letter states. 

The agreement also requires Xcel to set aside 1% of the annual revenue it collects in Boulder, about $1.2 million per year, for undergrounding powerlines in the public right of way. One project along Broadway in North Boulder undergrounded roughly a mile of lines at a cost of about $3.9 million, according to city officials.

The letter acknowledged that Xcel has met that commitment but said the efforts fall short of what is needed. 

“These efforts do not match the scale of the problem and the danger to our community,” the letter states, calling for an expedited program to improve system resiliency and reliability through “accelerated and expanded undergrounding.”

The letter also raises concerns about rising energy costs for customers. Xcel has pending cases before the Public Utilities Commission seeking higher electricity and natural gas rates.

“It is imperative that the financial benefits of the clean energy transition are shared with Xcel’s customers and steps are taken to address the insecurities many in our community feel as they face continually rising utility bills,” the letter states. 

The Boulder City Council is scheduled to vote on Jan. 22 to send the letter to Robert Kenney, president of Xcel’s Colorado operating company.

A representative from Xcel was not able to respond in time for publication. This story may be updated.