Xcel Energy set to shut off power in one Denver neighborhood to install new powerlines

It's all about power. Xcel Energy needs up to 10 hours in one day to do work on powerlines.

If not, the Denver Green School will not open on time.

But for people like Jane Lorimer, president of the Winston Downs Community Association, cutting the power in the middle of summer, will leave her and others powerless.

"People were threatening to sue Xcel if there were heat strokes," she said.

The area to be impacted is in southeast Denver from Holly Street to Monaco Street, north of Alameda. 

The work was scheduled for July 22, but some Jewish groups objected to having it done on the Sabbath.

Then the date for the work was moved to Tuesday. So BMH congregation closed its preschool for the day, according to one employee. 

"They basically told our families it wasn't their problem and should find alternative childcare," she said. 

In Winston Downs people like Jane prepared with dry ice to keep things cold.

"I threw a lot of stuff from my refrigerator because I thought it would go bad," she said.

Xcel Energy says it canceled Tuesday's planned outage due to near hundred degree temperatures.

"We live with our 99-year-old mother and to cut off the electricity including the air conditioning is a physical detriment," Neil Slade an area resident told CBS News Colorado. 

Xcel Energy delivers power to the people, but getting it there is leaving some people hot under the collar.   

The company issued the following statement:

"Providing our customers safe, reliable electricity is at the core of what we do. We look after the best interests of our customers, especially when it comes to scheduled work in both extreme heat or extreme cold weather. The project includes upgrading the transformer for Fallis Elementary. The school is adding air conditioning, which will increase load on the system. This also requires replacing overhead wire with new wire. 

Crews will not be replacing any of the poles. Given the proximity to energized equipment, the line needs to be taken out of service for the safety of our crews. They have done as much prep work as possible already, to limit the amount of time needed for the outage. All the work must be done at once because of how the system is set up in the area. We have requested that multiple crews work on this project to further cut down the outage time.

We know that being without electricity at any time of year is an inconvenience. We communicate with our customers if a project requires an outage, as we did with this project, and our crews work as quickly as possible to safely complete these projects. We appreciate our customers' patience."