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Xcel to meet with PSC re: recent power outages

Xcel Energy will be meeting with the Public Service Commission Friday to talk about a series of power outages in Fargo that were not weather related.

In a recent rate case, Xcel promised to make investments in North Dakota to shore up its reliability.

"We want to make sure that the investment that we've directed the company to do is actually having a positive impact," said Commission chairman Brian Kalk. "There have been outages since this one -- but they were all weather-related, from what I saw. This one, I think, begs the question: Why didn't the system work?"

"They've got a pretty significant replacement plan for some of their cables," said Commissioner Julie Fedorchak. "they seem to be moving forward pretty aggressively with that. When can we expect to see that completed, and when can we see some of these problems reduced?"

Fedorchak says in the short time she's been on the PSC, she has noticed an improvement in reliability. And Kalk says the North Dakota portion of Xcel's territory seems to have the best reliability record.

If an Xcel customer has three or more power outages that were not due to the weather, that customer is to receive a $50 refund. In 2013, 1651 customers got a refund.

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