Before Xcel cuts the power

What has happened here

6 April 2024

Xcel cut power to about 55,000 customers, mostly in Boulder County, to reduce wildfire risk ahead of forecast high winds. Wind damage that weekend cost about 100,000 more customers their power across the Front Range. Most were back by the evening of 8 April; about 2,000 were still waiting on 9 April.

17 and 19 December 2025

Two more shutoffs. The first switched off lines in North Boulder, the Civic Center, Chautauqua, University Hill west of Broadway and Far South Boulder. The second added more of the city, including Wonderland Lake and Foothills Park, Central West Boulder and Gunbarrel. Every line has to be inspected before it is switched back on, which is why restoring power took hours or days.

How the warning arrives

After the 2024 shutoff drew criticism for vague, late messages, Xcel set out staged warnings. Early messages go out when a shutoff becomes possible, about 72 hours ahead. In the pre-event stage, 48 to 72 hours out, residents are told to prepare for several days without power, and a final warning comes just before the lines go dead. Alerts arrive by automated calls, texts and emails, plus a dedicated Xcel web page.

In the hours before

1. Write down each zone’s setting. It is the number you will check afterwards.
2. Take out what you will drink over the next three days, all at once, then stop opening the door.
3. Fill the gaps. A full zone holds its temperature longer than a half-empty one. If both zones hold similar wines, move bottles into the fuller one, or fill an empty rack with closed bottles of water.
4. Leave the settings alone, or step down a degree or two within your usual range. The City’s advice to turn refrigerators colder is about keeping food.
5. Find the breaker. The City also suggests unplugging electrical equipment so the return of power cannot damage it. A built-in column’s plug sits behind the unit, so its circuit breaker is the practical switch.

While the power is off

Keep the door closed. A full, closed cabinet changes slowly, even as the house warms, and every look inside costs some of the cold it is holding.

When the power comes back

1. If you switched the breaker off, wait until power has been steady for an hour or so, then switch it back on.
2. Check that each panel is lit and shows the setting you wrote down. A long interruption can leave a zone in a different state from the one you set. On the classic units the alarm may also chime, because the zone has risen more than 15°F above its setting.
3. Give it a day. A warm cabinet takes hours to pull down, so measure with a probe among the bottles the next morning.
4. Call if a panel stays dark, shows an error, the fan never stops, or a zone is still well off its setting after a day.

What we check after a shutoff

A cabinet that warmed while the power was off usually has nothing wrong with it. When something has failed, we start with the electronics, which take the brunt of a hard restart: the control board and its connections, then the sensors. Sealed-system faults are possible, but they are not where we begin. The visit is $89, credited if you go ahead with the repair.