Colorado Regulators Monitor Xcel Energy After Service Failures

DENVER, Colorado — Colorado utility regulators have voted to closely monitor the reliability and customer service performance of Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electricity provider. This decision by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) follows the company’s ongoing issues with customer service and frequent outages.

In recent reports, the PUC highlighted that blackouts more than doubled in 2024, and customer complaints surged by 100% over three years. These figures prompted the commission to take action.

Xcel Energy acknowledged the issues in a letter to the PUC. “The company recognizes that performance in 2024 on electric reliability and on customer service faced challenges and we apologize to all affected customers and reaffirm our commitment to do better,” the letter stated.

According to Erin O’Neill, the PUC’s chief economist, the problems stem from a 10% reduction in Xcel’s staff and a 5% budget cut in customer service between 2022 and 2024. Xcel claims to have hired 170 new agents and plans to bring on an additional 90 to tackle these service issues.

While outages on the Xcel Energy grid have been increasing since 2014, they spiked dramatically in 2024. The average customer outage duration rose to 352 minutes from about 100 minutes the previous year. The utility serves approximately 1.5 million customers across Colorado.

Xcel stated that it has developed a performance improvement plan targeting transmission lines that have experienced the most outages, reporting a 93% decrease in downtime in the first four months of 2025.

PUC Chairman Eric Blank appreciated Xcel’s acknowledgement of its service shortcomings but emphasized the necessity of monitoring performance metrics for the next two years. The company must now report monthly data to the PUC and quarterly updates that assess if further regulatory action is required.

Commissioner Megan Gilman brought attention to billing issues as well, noting a 58% rise in customers not receiving their monthly bills between 2023 and 2024, stating that resolving these errors has become a significant burden for customers. “We’ve had people saying this is like a part-time job getting my billing fixed,” Gilman remarked.

As the commission collects this data, Blank stated, “it sets forth a series of expectations about performance and it sets forth as best we can a timeline.” The PUC is specifically requesting detailed information on outages and billing issues, aiming to improve service for Colorado residents as Xcel Energy implements necessary changes.