While the Aspen, Colorado natural gas outage between Christmas and the New Year is almost a month in the rearview, Black Hills Energy is still reflecting on the incredible work of our team and partners in responding to an unprecedented challenge.

Vandalism to our natural gas system caused almost 3,500 customers in Aspen to lose gas service as temperatures dipped below zero. Teams from across our organization set aside plans for relaxation and time with their families over the holiday week to assist with the effort to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. Black Hills Energy personnel from across Colorado, as well as from Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa, traveled to Aspen to assist in the monumental task of preparing our system for safely relighting customers, and countless more assisted the effort behind the scenes

 “I couldn’t be prouder of how the Black Hills Energy team rose to this challenge and how we lived out every one of our company’s values while under truly difficult circumstances,” said Vance Crocker, vice president of operations for Colorado. “We earned the admiration and appreciation of our customers, communities and regulators throughout this process, and our people made that possible.”

We offer a heartfelt thank you to everyone who gave their time, energy and immeasurable skills to give this story a happy ending, with the town fully restored as evening rose on the 31st and looking toward a brighter (and warmer) 2021.

We partner with our communities and customers, providing the kind of energy that fuels those areas and the lives of those we serve. Feel free to share the stories and photos. Make sure to tag us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.