Wichita, Kansas Power Outage Today

How reliable is Evergy service in Wichita?

Evergy is an investor-owned utility with 392,397 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.65 interruptions and 318 minutes (about 5.3 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 3.2 hours.

About 68% of that time came on major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately. On ordinary days the average falls to 102 minutes. A handful of severe-weather days, not everyday faults, set this utility’s year.

The typical outage was repaired in about 3.2 hours.

For comparison, Kansas as a whole averaged 286 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That is close to the state average.

Among the 15 utilities in Kansas with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, Evergy ranks 10th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 33% 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 Wichita

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 976 storm reports for Sedgwick County from 2015 through 2026, most often thunderstorm wind (426), hail (348), flash flood (74), and flood (67). The busiest full year was 2016 with 221 reports and the quietest was 2020 with 27, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in June (294 since 2015), followed by May and July. 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 11 storm episodes in Sedgwick County since 2015, most often in January. 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 Wichita 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Storm reports that name Wichita

Within Sedgwick County, 250 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Wichita as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (126), hail (58), flash flood (31), and flood (23). That is about 26% of the county’s reports. Reports naming Wichita are most common in June. The busiest full year was 2016 with 55. These reports record 1 injury in total.

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

• June 17, 2025 (thunderstorm wind): “Several power lines were knocked down across the Wichita metro.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• May 19, 2024 (thunderstorm wind): “Several power lines reported down in northwest Wichita.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• May 9, 2023 (thunderstorm wind): “Power lines were reported down at the 2300 block of south Victoria in Wichita.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Wichita

68.7% of occupied homes in Wichita are heated with piped natural gas, and 29.1% 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 15.7% of the population in Wichita, close to the US share of 17.2% and 15.1% 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 Evergy whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 44.4% of the housing in Wichita was built before 1970 (US 35.5%).

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

Backup power and electricity use in Wichita

The average Evergy home used about 846 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 1.2 kW around the clock, and paid about 14.3 cents per kWh (14.1 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $121 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 3.2 hours takes about 1.3 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 Wichita

About 397,532 people live in Wichita, the largest of the 5 Kansas cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Evergy’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.

Wichita power outage map

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

Wichita power outage questions