Xcel seeks nearly $2B from Colorado customers for wildfire mitigation after 2021 blaze

Xcel Energy wants to spend $1.9 billion through three years to prevent wildfires in Colorado, a dramatic increase that reflects the company’s urgency after its involvement in devastating blazes in Colorado and Texas posed safety and financial hazards.

If Colorado regulators approve the wildfire plan covering 2025-2027, it would raise the monthly bill for a typical customer there by 9.56%, or about $8.88 a month by January 2028. It would not affect bills for Minnesota customers.

“Our goal is to ensure that no catastrophic wildfire is started by Xcel Energy assets,” Xcel CEO Bob Frenzel said in a Thursday statement. “And, while we’ve made significant wildfire safety progress in Colorado and achieved key goals, there is still work to be done to meet the evolving threat.”

The Minneapolis-based company is facing an onslaught of lawsuits from those two fires that could push costs beyond its $500 million yearly insurance coverage in each case. In February, an Xcel utility pole fell in high winds and ignited the massive Smokehouse Creek fire in northern Texas, the largest in a series of blazes that killed two people and spread to more than 1 million acres. The Colorado Marshall fire in 2021 killed two people and reportedly caused more than $2 billion in property damage.

Xcel has denied negligence in maintaining the downed Texas pole and contends a flawed Colorado investigation incorrectly concluded the company’s equipment was the likely source of one of two fires that merged.

The company wants to add hundreds of weather stations and expand its use of artificial intelligence and cameras for early smoke detection as part of its plan. The company would also, among other actions, update its schedule for inspecting utility poles and other equipment in risky areas, boost its efforts to manage vegetation that can start fires and spend more on upgrading equipment, burying power lines, replacing and repairing poles and rebuilding transmission lines in dangerous places.

Xcel has spent more than $500 million on wildfire mitigation work in Colorado since 2020. In Colorado filings, the company said drought, climate change and urban sprawl into areas with higher fire risk make wildfire one of, if not the, largest operational challenges the company faces. Xcel said wildfires are also one of its largest financial risks.

Though wildfire risk is lower in Minnesota, regulators on the state’s Public Utilities Commission have held two hearings on the topic since May. Katie Sieben, who chairs the commission, said Tuesday one expert told her wet weather and flooding in Minnesota reduces fire risk now but can create problems in later dry weather.

“All of the additional vegetation that is growing as a result of the new rains, in the fall, or when wildfire risk season picks up again, can create more hazardous conditions for the state,” Sieben said.