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.
NEW: Xcel Energy says a transformer failed at the company’s substation near Jewell/Abilene in Aurora and caused Sunday’s power outage across the Denver Metro.
— Maggie Bryan Denver7 (@MaggieB_TV) February 2, 2026
Xcel says the failure damaged equipment and caused an outage that cascaded to other substations. @DenverChannel
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.
