Power restored after outage darkens portion of southwest metro Denver

Jun 02, 2023

A power outage caused by faulty underground wiring on Tuesday blew off a manhole cover and left 1,974 households without electricity in southwest metro Denver, according to Xcel Energy officials.

The outage resulting from a faulty cable "caused a manhole cover to be shifted off its base and resulted in an electric outage for 1,974 customers," utility spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said.

This happened near the intersection of West Belleview Avenue and South Wadsworth Boulevard in the area of Grant Ranch Boulevard and was reported at 10:33 a.m., according to Xcel's current outages online site data.

Electricity was restored before 1 p.m., company officials said.

The people affected were in Arvada, Lakewood, Littleton, Denver, and Columbine Valley, Xcel's online site postings said.

"Safety is a priority for us and, out of an abundance of caution," Aguayo said, "our crews are verifying there is not a natural gas leak in the area."

On Tuesday morning around Colorado, 36 outages were affecting 2,232 customers at one point, with 32 of those outages in metro Denver, affecting 2,113, data showed.

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