Commerce City residents express frustration with ongoing power outages

It's inside small businesses like Sara Dominguez's tamale shop in downtown Commerce City where residents have been feeling left in the dark amid frequently power outages across the community.

"It can be cold. It can be hot. It's going out and we don't know why," said Dominguez.

On Thursday, Dominguez and other residents across Commerce City experienced yet another power outage, this one lasting for several hours between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

"It goes off when we're at our busiest, which is around lunch time," she said. "It's really complicated for us as a business because customers leave."

While Dominguez's business can still operate and sell fresh tamales without power, the frequency of these outages can still present a challenge. She's experienced as many as four outages in the last month, while other people tell CBS Colorado it is as frequent as every week.

"Today we had to work from home," said Maria Zubia. "We had to work remotely because there was no power in our office."

Zubia is the Health Equity Director for Adelante Community Development, an organization that works with other Latino small businesses in the Commerce City area. She says many residents feel like there has been a lack of communication with Xcel Energy on why these outages have been happening and why so frequently this past year.

"Sometimes our traffic lights aren't working, which is a huge safety issue," said Zubia. "It would be really nice to know the reason why it's happening and why it's happening so frequently."

A spokesperson for Xcel Energy shared a statement with CBS Colorado about the power outages.

We are aware some of our customers are experiencing more frequent outages and are taking both short-term and longer-term action to improve the situation and enhance reliability. In the Commerce City area, we have been tracking issues for more than a year and have already been working to improve reliability for customers. Examples of projects include:

- Patrolling lines, tightening slack lines, and identifying trees and tree limbs contacting lines, with trees being trimmed. (completed)
- Installing new substation equipment and coordinating settings with associated reclosers. (scheduled)
- Changing feeder settings to better coordinate with other devices, ensuring fewest number of customers impacted in outages. (ongoing)

Xcel Energy also says there are a variety of reasons why residents may be experiencing outages:

A large number of the outages our customers have experienced in Commerce City since the spring have been due to more sensitive settings on our power lines, however some have also been caused by other issues, such as blown fuses, animal contact or cars hitting poles.

Due to the high wildfire threat in the region at this time, we are taking extreme care to visually inspect our lines to ensure these incidents do not create a wildfire risk or ignition. Those inspections may make these outages longer, but it provides the necessary confirmation that we are not putting the public's safety at risk.

We know that having reliable power is very important to our customers and communities, and we are working directly with city leaders to address the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience these outages have caused.

Residents like Zubia hope the agency can be more transparent about potential outages as they happen in the future and provide an accurate timeline as to when power can be restored.

"My biggest fear right now is that if it's going to be a continuous thing because the equipment is old or something needs to be replaced," she said. "Winter is coming, and we have a high percentage of folks that are older in age and they're homebound usually because it's winter and they don't drive out."