On Sept. 8, we received a request for mutual aid assistance from Xcel Energy to help restore power to their some of their customers after an unusual summer snow storm hit our state. Xcel requested assistance to restore power to the residents of Alamosa, Colorado.
The September snow storm interrupted electric service to the city of just less than 10,000 people. Xcel Energy was already stretched to the limits restoring power to other customers around the state, so they turned to us for help.
On Sept. 9, we dispatched three crews to Alamosa. They worked a 16-hour day restoring power and cleaning up after the storm, to include removing tree branches stuck on power lines.
"We were able to adjust our schedules to ensure we delivered to our commitments while also providing resources to assist Xcel," Bryan Babcock, energy construction operations & maintenance manager, said. "Being a community-owned utility, it is our responsibility to give back to our community - not just the Colorado Springs community but neighboring communities too. I'm proud of our crews for stepping up to the challenge and delivering great service to the Alamosa community."
This was the third time we provided mutual aid assistance to Xcel in 2020. Two assistance requests were weather related and the third was a dig-in damage request where our crews assisted Xcel with their 115kv system.
Mutual aid agreements establish the terms under which one party provides resources—personnel, teams, facilities, equipment, and supplies—to another party.
Because most jurisdictions do not maintain sufficient resource levels to handle extreme events independently, mutual aid agreements provide a means for jurisdictions to augment their resources when needed for high-demand incidents.
Through agreements like this one with Xcel, we are not only able to recover all costs associated with sending our crews to assist in a situation, but also request assistance when faced with similar situations.