Transformer failure to blame for outage that left nearly 200,000 people without power, Xcel says
Feb 01, 2026
DENVER A large power outage in the southeast area of the Denver metro on Sunday afternoon left nearly 200,000 people in the dark, affected airport operations, and 911 service in some areas.Xcel Energy said a transformer failure
and the resulting equipment damage at one of its substations just before 3 p.m. Sunday was to blame for the outage that left more than 195,000 people without power.CORE Electric customers were also impacted.Xcel said power was restored to all customers by 5:47 p.m. and the transformer was being replaced.The outage had impacted Aurora 911 service, RTD light rail, and Denver International Airport, where concourse trains were temporarily halted.Aurora said that 911 service was working again, and DIA reported that operations had returned to normal.RTD ran shuttle buses to replace the H Line and the R Line.
...read more
read less