Evansville, Indiana Power Outage Today

How reliable is CenterPoint Energy service in Evansville?

CenterPoint Energy is an investor-owned utility with 155,822 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.43 interruptions and 458 minutes (about 7.6 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 5.3 hours.

About 82% of that time came on major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately. On ordinary days the average falls to 81 minutes. A handful of severe-weather days, not everyday faults, set this utility’s year.

The long average outage is the notable figure: when the lights went out for CenterPoint Energy customers, they stayed out for about 5.3 hours on average, which is long enough to spoil refrigerated food and strain medical needs.

For comparison, Indiana as a whole averaged 312 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts CenterPoint Energy above the state average.

Among the 37 utilities in Indiana with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, CenterPoint Energy ranks 30th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 23% of the 926 utilities of that size reported more outage minutes in 2024.

This utility reports with its own method rather than the IEEE standard, so compare its numbers with other utilities loosely.

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 Evansville

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 178 storm reports for Vanderburgh County from 2015 through 2025, most often thunderstorm wind (64), flood (47), flash flood (22), and hail (20). The busiest full year was 2024 with 30 reports and the quietest was 2017 with 7, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in April (35 since 2015), followed by July and March. 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 18 storm episodes in Vanderburgh 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 Evansville 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.
• 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 Evansville

Within Vanderburgh County, 132 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Evansville as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (46), flood (38), flash flood (19), and hail (14). That is about 74% of the county’s reports, so Evansville accounts for much of the county’s storm history. Reports naming Evansville are most common in July. The busiest full year was 2016 with 20. These reports record 2 deaths and 2 injuries in total.

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

• April 5, 2023 (thunderstorm wind): “Several trees and power lines were blown down from the north side of Evansville to just north of the airport.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• June 17, 2022 (thunderstorm wind): “Several large trees and power lines were blown down in Evansville.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• July 8, 2021 (thunderstorm wind): “There were numerous reports of damage to trees and power lines in Evansville.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Evansville

57.7% of occupied homes in Evansville are heated with piped natural gas, and 39.7% 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 17.6% of the population in Evansville, close to the US share of 17.2% and 19.7% 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 CenterPoint Energy whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 58.5% of the housing in Evansville was built before 1970 (US 35.5%), and older neighborhoods often have overhead service lines and mature trees close to the wires, which makes them more exposed to storm outages; 45.4% 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 Evansville is $53,387, below the Indiana figure of $71,957. 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 Evansville

The average CenterPoint Energy home used about 886 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 1.2 kW around the clock, and paid about 17.5 cents per kWh (14.8 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $155 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 5.3 hours takes about 2.1 kWh. A portable power station in the 1 to 3 kWh range covers part of that, and a small inverter generator covers all of it.

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 Evansville

About 117,979 people live in Evansville, the 3rd largest of the 5 Indiana cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check CenterPoint Energy’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.

Evansville power outage map

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

Evansville power outage questions