LUBBOCK, Texas — Xcel Energy is prepared to shut power off to 17,000 customers in Texas and New Mexico beginning Friday morning to reduce wildfire risk.
See the full press release below:
AMARILLO, Texas (Mar. 13, 2025) – Xcel Energy is preparing to temporarily shut power off to approximately 17,000 customers in our Texas and New Mexico service area tomorrow morning to reduce wildfire risk. This decision is based on weather forecasts indicating extremely high wind speeds and low relative humidity, in addition to wildfire modeling of fuels on the ground. Temporarily shutting power off – known as a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) – is a targeted measure of last resort when other methods are not enough to ensure public safety. Customers may be affected in parts of eastern New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and in the South Plains region. The company expects these power outages to begin the morning of Friday, March 14. This extreme weather event may lead to power outages unrelated to the PSPS, given the forecast for strong winds that could damage power lines. We will continue to share updates as conditions evolve. “Our meteorologists have been closely watching this weather system and understand the critical fire weather risk to our communities,” said Adrian Rodriguez, president, Xcel Energy – New Mexico, Texas. “We agree with our weather service partners about the historic nature of this event. We’re taking the precaution of turning off power in the highest risk areas to keep everyone safe. We know this might be inconvenient, but our top priority is protecting lives and homes during this critical time.” Xcel Energy is reaching out directly to affected customers, including those who use medical equipment that relies on electricity, to encourage them to prepare for a PSPS and for other outages related to severe weather. Customers can look up their address online to find out if they may be subject to the PSPS event. They can also check the status of outages on the Xcel Energy outage map. Once the high winds die down and it is safe to begin work to restore power, it may take several hours to days for customers’ power to be restored because a crew must patrol the entire power line to ensure it’s safe for that power line to be re-energized. Crews are positioned to begin restoration efforts as quickly as possible once conditions have improved and it is safe for them to begin inspecting power lines. Xcel Energy has brought in several dozen additional crew members from Colorado to help during this weather event. Xcel Energy will continue to share updates as the situation develops on this dedicated event web page, and provide the current status of outages via the electric service outage map. Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings are active across our New Mexico and Texas service area, which means that power lines are more sensitive and can stop the flow of energy if an issue is detected, such as a tree branch touching the line. In those cases, power will remain off until our crews can make sure it’s safe to turn it back on. These settings are intended to improve public safety during heightened risk conditions, but it means power outages are likely to last substantially longer than typical outages. …