How our outage reports work

TrackOutages shows how many people reported a power, natural gas, internet or water outage in a US city during the last 24 hours, next to data that does not come from users: official public statistics and information published by the providers themselves. This page explains exactly where each number comes from and what it does not tell you.

Two kinds of data

User reports: outage reports submitted by visitors on this site. These are crowd signals, collected and counted as described below.
Non-user data: figures from official public sources and information published by utilities and internet providers. These are labeled with their source on the page where they appear.

Where the report counts come from

Every report count on a city, state or provider page is a count of reports submitted by visitors using the Report an outage button on a city page. We cover 337 cities in all 50 states. We do not import utility outage maps, we do not scrape social media, and we never add sample, estimated or placeholder reports. If nobody reported anything, the page says so.

The 24-hour window

A report counts toward a city’s total for 24 hours after it is submitted. State totals add up the city reports in that state, and national totals add up all states. Internet provider pages count only reports where the person chose that provider on the report form. Electric utility pages count reports from the states where we list that company. Neither is a confirmed outage for that brand.

Limiting duplicate and automated reports

One device can report the same city once every 30 minutes and at most 8 times in 24 hours.
Each report form carries a short-lived token, and a hidden field filters out simple bots.
We store a one-way hash of the network address to enforce those limits, not the address itself.

What a zero means

Zero reports means nobody submitted one here in the last 24 hours. It is not an all-clear. Most people report outages directly to their utility or internet provider, and smart meters often notify utilities automatically without anyone visiting this site.

What a high count means

Many reports in one city suggest a wider problem, but they are still crowd reports, not an official statement. Utilities and providers decide whether an outage is confirmed and when service will return.

Official public data

State and city pages also show figures that are not user reports. They come from public datasets published by US government agencies:

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): electric utility reliability, customers and prices (Form EIA-861).
U.S. Census Bureau: population, housing and household internet subscriptions (American Community Survey).
Federal Communications Commission (FCC): broadband availability and providers (National Broadband Map).
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): public water systems and drinking water violations (SDWIS).
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information: storm events that can cause outages (Storm Events Database).

We use these figures as published and name the source next to them. They describe a state or city over a year or longer; they do not show whether service is out right now.

Planned outage notices from providers

Utilities and internet providers sometimes announce planned outages in advance, for example scheduled maintenance, network upgrades or a planned water shutoff. When we add a planned outage notice to a page, we first check it on the provider’s own website or official channel and link to that source. Not every planned outage will appear here, and the provider’s notice is always the reference for exact times and affected addresses.

Provider lists

City and state pages list 382 electric, gas, internet and water providers by state, compiled from public service-area information. A listed provider may not serve every address in the state. Your bill is the reliable source for who serves you and for the 24-hour outage number.

Weather

City pages show current conditions from Open-Meteo, so you can see whether wind, storms or heat may be involved. Weather is shown for context only.

What this site does not do

We do not show estimated restoration times. Only your provider has those.
We are not affiliated with any utility, internet provider or government agency.
We are not an emergency service. For downed power lines, a gas smell, fire or a medical emergency, call 911.

Guides

General advice for each type of outage lives in one place instead of being repeated on every city page:

Corrections and contact

If a provider listing is wrong or a city is missing, email info@trackoutages.com. We review provider corrections and update the listings.