April UPDATE:After negotiation with Xcel Energy, and approval from the PUC, every household in the Greater Nederland Area that was on the main feed (which was effected by the power disruptions) will
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Last week, Nederland Town Administrator, Alisha Reis, and I met with Area Manager for Xcel, Craig Eicher, and Xcel Community Relations Director, Robert Osborn, to discuss the recent power outages in the Greater Nederland Area. Because Xcel is a public utility, there are some constraints about what they are permitted to do, but within that framework, we were able to generate some ideas.
The following FAQ sheet was prepared by Xcel. They will present this information in more detail at the Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting on Tuesday (January 21 at 7:00pm) and they will be bringing with them an Xcel Claims Representative to answer questions and file claims right at the Community Center.
Essentially, this month's NederMayor blog is brought to you by Xcel Energy:
1. Flood: We will forever remember the historic flood in September. The entire Front Range was heavily impacted by days of steady rains, mudslides and washouts. While many miles of electric and gas lines were damaged, Xcel Energy responded by bringing in crews and contractors from across our system, who rebuilt our infrastructure safely and as quickly as possible.The flood forced us to postpone several important construction projects, including the one to renovate a major power line serving Nederland.
2. Power line renovation project: This project, which is nearing completion right now, replaced miles of power line and dozens of new power poles. The majority of the work was performed without turning off the power to our customers. However, there were two "planned" outages in early October when we used a helicopter to install new poles, and there were also numerous "unplanned" outages, which have extended the project's completion and have been very disruptive to our Nederland customers. In recent weeks, however, we have responded with additional resources and crews and are now scheduled, and on track, to complete the wire portion of the work by the end of the month
1. Bill Credit: As we stated Tuesday evening before the town's Board of Trustees, Xcel Energy has initiated a process called the Quality of Service Plan (QSP). Under this plan, customers who are served by a power line, which performs poorly (as set forth by specific metrics for number of outages over time), will receive an automatic bill credit of $50. The good news is, Nederland customers don't have to do or submit anything in order to qualify for this credit – our process automatically identifies the customers who are served by this feeder. If approved by the Public Utilities Commission, the credit would be paid in early summer.2. Claims: Xcel Energy customers also have available to them compensation through our Claims Department, which covers the cost of financial losses incurred during outages that qualify for reimbursement.
http://www.xcelenergy.com/Outages/Learn_About_Outages/FAQ:_Outages.
That concludes our special message from Xcel Energy. Now back to our regularly scheduled NederMayor blog, which is already in progress...
I understand that Xcel is a large corporation operating in eight states. Craig had to get clearance from the highest levels of the company, approvals from a variety of departments, and comply with a host of Public Utilities Commission regulations, in order make this presentation to our Board of Trustees. I appreciate the 'behind the scenes' work that went into this.
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