More than 8,000 Xcel Energy customers on the West Bank campus and in the Como neighborhood lost their power Tuesday evening. The culprit? A squirrel. The outage occurred at about 5 p.m. when a squirrel got into the power equipment, Xcel Energy spokesman Tom Hoen said. Power was out for one hour and 20 minutes. âÄúCustomers got their power back at 6:35 p.m.âÄù Hoen said. âÄúThe squirrel, however, did not make it.âÄù The outage did not have to do with âÄúsystem upgradesâÄù that were underway on 14th Street Southeast in Dinkytown, according to Xcel Energy.