Extension cords and generators kept Me Oh My Coffee and Pie in Laporte in business Friday during the latest round of planned public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) by Xcel Energy.
About 9,000 Xcel Energy customers in Larimer and Weld counties were alerted of the planned outage several days prior.
“In the past it’s been more stressful. This time, I was a little bit more prepared,” said Me Oh My Coffee and Pie owner Jason Gaona. “We stuff everything into these fridges and freezers, and we’ll run the generators until the electricity comes back on.”
Owner Jason Gaona served from a very limited menu starting at 8 a.m., when the public safety power shutoff went into effect.
In the past couple of years, Gaona said he has experienced four major outages like this.
“It’s hard to believe, though, that those four times were all within the last two years,” he told Denver7.
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Even with customers coming and going throughout the day, Gaona said the business’s bottom line was still impacted.
“Ultimately if this is going to become more of a norm based on weather or structure grid stuff, I would like to see you know some lines buried for businesses that rely heavily on a Friday afternoon of sales, you know?”
Denver7 took his concerns to Xcel Energy Colorado President Robert Kenney.
“We are looking at targeted undergrounding, and we have a wildfire mitigation plan that’s filed at the PUC, our regulator, and that plan does include some amount of targeted undergrounding in our service industry,” said Kenney.
Xcel is also replacing its current infrastructure with more resilient poles and wires across the region, added Kenney.
“We look at where the wildfire risk is the greatest, we look, so that’s the priority,” said Kenney.
In the meantime Gaona is hoping for the best — that is, pouring out hot coffee and serving breakfast by Saturday morning.
“I’m hopeful that we’ll have it back today and then you know we’ll put everything back to where it belongs and kind of go from there,” he said.
Denver7
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