Overview
- The injunction requires Xcel to replace all poles with severe structural deterioration in high wildfire‑risk areas within 14 days and to notify the state once work is complete.
- Newly identified high‑priority poles must be replaced no later than one day after they are reported or discovered.
- Xcel must conduct large‑scale infrastructure reviews in high‑risk zones, including at least 35,000 pole inspections each year.
- The enforcement action stems from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s litigation seeking monetary damages after Panhandle fires that burned about a million acres and killed at least three people.
- Xcel says it will comply and points to more than 19,000 poles replaced since 2021, $111 million invested, AI fire‑detection cameras, wildfire‑resistant hardware, selective undergrounding, and 1,338 poles still due for replacement.