Residents and businesses in Boulder have lost power six times since Aug. 20 as the city and county grapple with the threat of wildfires and an aging electrical infrastructure.
The frequent outages are indicative of an ongoing problem throughout Xcel Energy’s electrical transmission system, and state regulators are asking tough questions about the utility’s work to grow its power base while maintaining existing infrastructure.
Carolyn Elam, Boulder’s senior manager for sustainability who monitors Xcel’s service, said the system is strained…