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Wildfire plans and tree clearing in Colorado: the Public Utilities Commission and wildfire mitigation plans

What the Colorado Public Utilities Commission says about utility wildfire mitigation plans: the Xcel Energy plan for 2025 to 2027, the proposed rules 3630 to 3644 with a three year filing cycle, and the lines each page gives on vegetation management.

Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It restates four Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) pages as read on October 8, 2026: the wildfire mitigation plans page, the June 2025 press release on the Xcel Energy plan, the wildfire mitigation and public safety power shutoff rulemaking page, and the September 29, 2026 press release announcing the draft rules. The comparison of every region is on the guide to utility wildfire plans and tree clearing. None of the four pages prints a vegetation clearance distance or an inspection interval for trees.

Plans as read on October 8, 2026

The PUC's plans page says wildfire mitigation plans are a way for utilities to get Commission approval for wildfire risk actions and the cost recovery that goes with them. It says such plans generally include inspection, repair and replacement of infrastructure along with protection measures such as vegetation management and undergrounding of lines, that they are a relatively new type of proceeding, and that the PUC does not formally require them. The first plan was submitted by Xcel Energy in July 2020 under proceeding 20A-0300E.

The press release of June 6, 2025 says the Commission announced on June 5, 2025 that it approved Xcel Energy's plan in proceeding 24A-0296E, after all parties joined a settlement filed on April 18. On vegetation, it lists only "commitments on community outreach and engagement involving vegetation management". The other listed items are undergrounding of about 50 miles of line, battery storage rebates, rebuilding major transmission lines, wildfire detection cameras shared with public safety partners, a pole location database, and risk mapping commitments. It gives the total projected budget as approximately US$1.9 billion and a monthly bill impact reaching approximately US$9 per month toward the end of the 2025 to 2027 plan period. The rulemaking page words the same decision as an approval in August 2025, so the two PUC pages give different months.

The proposed statewide rules

This is the part particular to Colorado. The rulemaking page and the September 29, 2026 release say the Commission voted 3 to 0 on September 23, 2026 to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in proceeding 26R-0355E, covering Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy, and that the proposed rules are open for comment and not in effect. Rules 3630 and 3631 are applicability and definitions, rules 3632 to 3637 cover wildfire mitigation plans and rules 3638 to 3644 cover public safety power shutoffs.

The page says the plan rules would require utilities to assess the likelihood and consequences of wildfires from their equipment, identify high-risk areas and have the assessments independently checked, compare mitigation options by cost, risk reduction and effect on reliable service, and describe planned inspections, repairs, vegetation management, system improvements and emergency preparations. Full plans would be submitted every three years, with an annual progress report and performance data twice a year. The Commission could approve, reject or require changes, and approval would not automatically authorize customer charges. The dates it lists are initial comments due November 2, 2026, responsive comments due November 16, 2026 and a first public comment hearing on November 23, 2026. The September release describes plans as including "trimming trees near power lines" among the measures.

Sources