Tucson, Arizona Power Outage Today

How reliable is Tucson Electric Power (TEP) service in Tucson?

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is an investor-owned utility with 455,579 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 0.99 interruptions and 113 minutes (113 minutes) without power, so the average outage lasted 114 minutes.

Major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately, made up about 40% of that time. Without them the average is 68 minutes, so weather matters here but ordinary equipment faults and tree contact account for most of the total.

Outages are infrequent, fewer than one per customer a year, and each was fixed in 114 minutes on average.

For comparison, Arizona as a whole averaged 88 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts Tucson Electric Power (TEP) above the state average.

Among the 11 utilities in Arizona with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) ranks 6th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 67% of the 926 utilities of that size reported more outage minutes in 2024.

These are the figures the utility itself reported to the US Energy Information Administration (Form EIA-861, 2024) and describe the whole service territory, not one street. Your own address can be better or worse.

Storm season and outages in Tucson

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 623 storm reports for Pima County from 2015 through 2026, most often thunderstorm wind (269), flash flood (209), hail (60), and lightning (34). The busiest full year was 2021 with 94 reports and the quietest was 2020 with 30, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in July (260 since 2015), followed by August and June. October is outside those three months, so an outage now is less likely to be weather-related.

NOAA’s own narratives name power outages in 38 storm episodes in Pima County since 2015, most often in July. That count is a floor, since the database records outages only when a spotter or agency mentions them.

What the most common storm types in Tucson do to the grid:

• Flash flood. Floodwater reaches ground-level transformers, meters and low-lying substations. Utilities may shut power off ahead of the water on purpose, and wading near flooded equipment can electrocute.
• Thunderstorm wind. Straight-line wind pushes trees and limbs into distribution lines. These outages are usually local, a street or a neighborhood at a time, and crews clear them circuit by circuit.
• Hail. Hail rarely cuts power by itself, but it often arrives with the wind and lightning that do, and it breaks solar panels, windshields and exposed utility equipment.

Storm reports that name Tucson

Within Pima County, 186 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Tucson as their location or in their description: flash flood (77), thunderstorm wind (75), hail (13), and lightning (9). That is about 30% of the county’s reports. Reports naming Tucson are most common in July. The busiest full year was 2021 with 33. These reports record 6 deaths and 5 injuries in total.

In NOAA’s own words, storms that left Tucson without power:

• June 17, 2026 (thunderstorm wind): “Reported 8 power poles reported down, leaving 7,000 customers without power in the Tucson Metro.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• October 11, 2025 (thunderstorm wind): “Tucson Electrical Power reported that 856 customers without power due to equipment damage from weather.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• July 15, 2025 (lightning): “A lightning strike hit power company equipment and caused power outages at the Pima County Election Headquarters and several other areas in Midtown Tucson.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Tucson

Home heating in Tucson is mixed: 48.6% of occupied homes use electricity (US 41.3%) and 47.8% use piped natural gas. Either way, furnaces and heat pumps need grid power to run, so a winter outage means a cold house for most households.

Residents aged 65 or older are 16.2% of the population in Tucson, close to the US share of 17.2% and 15.2% report a disability (US 13.3%). These are the households most likely to depend on powered medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines and refrigerated medicine. If someone in your home does, ask Tucson Electric Power (TEP) whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 32.3% of the housing in Tucson was built before 1970 (US 35.5%); 48.2% of households rent (US 34.8%), so many residents depend on a landlord to restore building systems and cannot add a generator or battery themselves.

Median household income in Tucson is $57,073, below the Arizona figure of $79,964. For many households, replacing a freezer of spoiled food or paying for a hotel during a long outage is a real hardship; dialing 211 connects to local shelters, warming or cooling centers and utility assistance programs.

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 (housing, heating fuel, age and disability tables).

Backup power and electricity use in Tucson

The average Tucson Electric Power (TEP) home used about 800 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 1.1 kW around the clock, and paid about 15.6 cents per kWh (14.9 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $125 a month.

Keeping only the essentials on (a refrigerator, router, a few lights and phone chargers, about 400 watts) through an outage that lasts the average 114 minutes takes less than 1 kWh. A portable power station or a power bank covers that; a generator is more than most households here need for a typical outage.

A generator must never run indoors, in a garage or near a window; generator and food-safety rules are in the power outage guide linked below.

If the power is out in Tucson

About 548,073 people live in Tucson, the 2nd largest of the 5 Arizona cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Tucson Electric Power (TEP)’s outage map for an estimate. If neighbors have power and you do not, report it again: the fault may be on the line to your house alone, which is a separate repair.

Tucson power outage map

Tucson Electric Power (TEP)’s outage map has the official restoration estimate for your address; the count above comes from residents. Food and generator safety: power outage guide.

Tucson power outage questions