The lawsuit alleges Minnesota-based Xcel Energy failed to maintain utility poles that started the 2024 Panhandle fire that killed three people and thousands of livestock.

Xcel insists liability concerns are not driving its decision-making. Xcel paid a $640 million settlement related to the Marshall Fire just a few months ago.

We're looking at several hours of this wind event occurring. We would not start restoration processes until this wind event ceases.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Xcel Energy for over $1 billion, alleging "blatant negligence" caused the 2024 Smokehouse Creek Fire.

Texas has sued the utility company whose downed power lines sparked the largest wildfire in state history, a deadly blaze that destroyed homes and livestock and charred miles of landscape, causing more than $1 billion in damage.

The fire killed three people and more than 15,000 head of cattle and burned over a million acres in the Panhandle in 2024.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Xcel Energy for "blatant negligence" in causing last year's Smokehouse Creek wildfire, the largest in the state's history.

Since taking responsibility for last year’s Smokehouse Creek fire, Xcel Energy has created additional resources to assist first responders.

Texas is seeking to recover the state's economic losses, impose civil penalties, and force the utility to adopt corrective safety measures. The complaint also asks the court to bar Southwestern Public Service from passing wildfire-related costs on to customers—a major point of tension in past utility fire cases around the country.