Faced with a barrage of complaints, Xcel Energy used a legislative committee hearing Friday to explain and defend its decision to preemptively cut power in spots along the Front Range in December to minimize wildfire risks.⁠ ⁠ Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy-Colorado, told members of the legislature’s Joint Energy Committee that the utility rarely resorts to planned outages, known as public safety power shutoffs.⁠ ⁠ Power shutoffs Dec. 17 and 19 affected tens of thousands of Xcel customers from the Boulder area to metro Denver. Other people lost power when hurricane-strength winds damaged electrical equipment.⁠ ⁠ Read the full story at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ 📝: Judith Kohler, The Denver Post⁠ 📷: Matthew Jonas, The Daily Camera⁠ ⁠ #Colorado #poweroutage #XcelEnergy #utilities⁠