(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — Black Hills Energy (BHE) is developing a program to allow the utility to shut off power in high-wildfire risk areas during “extreme conditions.”
According to BHE, the utility is preparing to launch the “Public Safety Power Shutoff” (PSPS) program by mid-summer 2025. BHE said the PSPS program involves “selectively and proactively” shutting off power to high-risk fire areas during extreme weather conditions until those conditions improve, with the goal of preventing electric facilities from becoming a source of wildfire ignition.
“At Black Hills Energy, the safety of our customers, employees and communities is our highest priority,” said Campbell Hawkins, vice president of Colorado utilities. “We believe that a Public Safety Power Shutoff program is a necessary and critical tool for wildfire prevention and mitigation, particularly for utilities with high fire risk areas.”
BHE said if a power line is proactively de-energized during a shutoff, it will not be turned back on until conditions improve, and until crews have inspected power lines. This process may result in outages lasting a few hours or a few days.
“Peer utilities are currently implementing and executing similar programs,” Hawkins said. “To determine if a Public Safety Power Shutoff is necessary, Black Hills Energy will leverage industry criteria that include a combination of wind gust speeds and low relative humidity.”
According to Hawkins, BHE does not intend to trigger a shutoff based only on a Red Flag Warning being issued by the National Weather Service; however Red Flag Warnings do trigger other operational responses already in place, which are outlined in the company’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan.
BHE said it would communicate with customers before any shutoff occurs, and said the shutoff would only be used as a last resort. During and after a PSPS event, BHE said public notifications would occur through phone calls, emails, text messages, social media, media outlets and BHE’s website.
BHE reminds the community to have a backup plan in place for medicine that needs to be refrigerated or medical equipment that is powered by electricity. This could mean finding a place you can go during an outage or having a backup generator.
