Xcel takes blame for Colorado blackouts

Xcel Energy’s CEO on Wednesday said the utility accepts the blame for the rolling blackouts in February that cut power to roughly 300,000 customers on one of the winter’s coldest days.

Richard Kelly said the utility didn’t realize how cold it would get on Feb. 18 and underestimated the demand for natural gas at a time when the supply was constrained.

“We missed the forecast,” Kelly said while speaking at Xcel’s annual shareholders meeting at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. “We didn’t forecast it being that cold.”

About 3,000 megawatts of power – mostly generated from natural gas and by private power producers – went offline that day, forcing Xcel to cut power to thousands of customers for three 30-minute periods in the morning.

Rocky Mountain News