Little Rock, Arkansas Power Outage Today

How reliable is Entergy Arkansas service in Little Rock?

Entergy Arkansas is an investor-owned utility with 742,597 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.81 interruptions and 370 minutes (about 6.2 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 3.4 hours.

Major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately, made up about 38% of that time. Without them the average is 229 minutes, so weather matters here but ordinary equipment faults and tree contact account for most of the total.

The typical outage was repaired in about 3.4 hours.

For comparison, Arkansas as a whole averaged 509 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts Entergy Arkansas below the state average, which is better.

Among the 18 utilities in Arkansas with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, Entergy Arkansas ranks 11th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 28% 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 Little Rock

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 505 storm reports for Pulaski County from 2015 through 2026, most often thunderstorm wind (200), flash flood (131), hail (102), and heavy rain (31). The busiest full year was 2018 with 70 reports and the quietest was 2021 with 30, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in April (103 since 2015), followed by May 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 21 storm episodes in Pulaski County since 2015, most often in February. 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 Little Rock do to the grid:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 Little Rock

Within Pulaski County, 167 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Little Rock as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (67), flash flood (46), hail (21), and heavy rain (18). That is about 33% of the county’s reports. Reports naming Little Rock are most common in May. The busiest full year was 2024 with 21. These reports record 1 death and 7 injuries in total.

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

• June 23, 2020 (thunderstorm wind): “Power lines were reported blown down in the Prothro Junction area on Highway 161 in North Little Rock and was relayed via NWSChat from North Little Rock Fire Departmnet.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• July 14, 2018 (thunderstorm wind): “Power outages were reported in northern Pulaski County, north of Little Rock Air Force Base due to thunderstorm wind damage.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• June 13, 2018 (thunderstorm wind): “Thunderstorm winds caused damage to some power lines, resulting in scattered power outages in Little Rock.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Little Rock

50.4% of occupied homes in Little Rock are heated with piped natural gas, and 47.8% with electricity (US 41.3% electric). A gas furnace still needs electricity for its blower and ignition, so a long winter outage leaves these homes cold too, though a gas supply stays on when the grid fails. Never heat a home with an oven, grill or camp stove indoors.

Residents aged 65 or older are 15.6% of the population in Little Rock, close to the US share of 17.2% and 14.7% 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 Entergy Arkansas whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 35.7% of the housing in Little Rock was built before 1970 (US 35.5%); 46.5% 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.

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

Backup power and electricity use in Little Rock

The average Entergy Arkansas home used about 1,056 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 1.4 kW around the clock, and paid about 13.0 cents per kWh (12.3 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $137 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 about 3.4 hours takes about 1.4 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 Little Rock

About 202,591 people live in Little Rock, the largest of the 3 Arkansas cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Entergy Arkansas’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.

Little Rock power outage map

Entergy Arkansas’s outage map has the official restoration estimate for your address; the count above comes from residents. Food and generator safety: power outage guide.

Little Rock power outage questions