UPDATE: According to Xcel Energy, the power outage was caused by a faulty piece of equipment after what appeared to be an electrical explosion at the substation near 10th St. and 23rd Ave. The total number of customers left without service Sunday night was close to 25,000, not 17,000 as originally reported.
Roughly 17,000 Xcel Energy customers lost power in Greeley Sunday night. The outage began at 6:18 p.m. and left much of northeast Greeley without electricity, including the greater downtown area.
Xcel Energy spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said the power outage began at an electrical substation, where a “lockout” mechanism in the power grid shut it off. The mechanism attempts to restart a few times before shutting down completely and requiring manual maintenance, which is what happened Sunday night.
Power was restored for much of Greeley as of 8:35 p.m. Crews continued to investigate the source of the problem and patrolled the substation Sunday night.
