Recent power outages on the Xcel Energy system have been problematic in many communities, not only Summit. 

Thinking back to “earlier days” when thunderstorms would knock out power, county residents would experience sudden outages. Those were the days of personal computers that occupied actual floor space and took up half your desk with the monitor. 

To avoid loss of information, it was common for many people to have an uninterruptible power source. The uninterruptible power source would kick on and provide another hour or so of power to save your work and shut down the computer.

Fast forward to today, and most of us are using devices or laptops that have built-in batteries to achieve this purpose. When it comes to refrigerators or freezers, or other critical functions, perhaps it’s time to revisit backup power. 

I would like to request that Xcel Energy consider making battery packs available to affected customers at wholesale pricing by making a bulk purchase and passing the savings through to customers. 

Products such as Jackery brand solar powered battery packs, Generac, and other systems can power anything from the refrigerator all the way up to the whole house.