DENVER — Xcel Energy plans to ramp up its Colorado wildfire mitigation plan by increasing weather awareness and preemptive power shut-offs, investing in new equipment and adding customer support systems, according to a proposal submitted today. But these upgrades come with a price tag for customers: a nearly $9 increase to the average monthly utility bill.

“It’s the nature of the evolution of wildfire risk,” Xcel Energy Colorado President Robert Kenney said. “Wildfire risk is increasing, not just in Colorado and California, but throughout the country.”

Part of the cost that would be passed onto customers comes from plans for Xcel to purchase 93 artificial intelligence cameras on top of the 42 the company already plans to install by the end of the year, Xcel Energy area Vice President Anne Sherwood said.

“These are cameras that rotate 360 degrees every minute, and they use artificial intelligence to identify smoke plumes and send alerts to our public safety partners,” Sherwood said. “We’re going to expand that network from 42 to 135 and that will cover all of our high-risk areas.”

If approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission as submitted, the typical residential bill would increase by 9.56%, or about $8.88 per month, by 2028.

That’s not the only cost customers will see: Kenney said residents and businesses will bear more power shutdowns as wildfire conditions increase. Preemptively shutting down the power during windstorms and other high-risk weather will keep blown-down or damaged lines from sparking a blaze in dry vegetation.

Sherwood said other costly additions include burying areas of powerlines underground, increasing inspections and repairs of power lines and poles, hiring new staff and upgrading technology so damaged lines are less likely to spark and fewer people will be affected for shorter periods by planned outages.

High-risk areas and sections of power lines to be buried are still being determined, but Sherwood said the utility is considering remoteness and terrain as part of each area’s risk. The higher the wildfire risk, the more likely an area is to see preemptive power shutdowns during extremely windy and dry weather periods.

The proposal comes months after Xcel Energy Colorado in April took the unprecedented step of preemptively cutting power to some parts of the Front Range to minimize the risk of wildfires as 100 mph winds walloped the region and power lines.

Colorado residents and local officials pushed back against that shutdown, saying there wasn’t enough notice and the company’s communication was frustrating.

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