Fayetteville, North Carolina Power Outage Today

How reliable is Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) service in Fayetteville?

Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) is a city-owned utility with 83,310 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.76 interruptions and 129 minutes (about 2.2 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted 73 minutes.

Major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately, made up about 45% of that time. Without them the average is 71 minutes, so weather matters here but ordinary equipment faults and tree contact account for most of the total.

Outages here come often but are repaired quickly: more than one interruption per customer a year, each lasting about 73 minutes. Clocks that blink and surge protectors matter more than a generator.

For comparison, North Carolina as a whole averaged 1,441 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) below the state average, which is better.

Among the 44 utilities in North Carolina with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) ranks 20th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 62% 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 Fayetteville

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 188 storm reports for Cumberland County from 2015 through 2026, most often thunderstorm wind (121), flash flood (40), hail (19), and heavy rain (4). The busiest full year was 2023 with 29 reports and the quietest was 2021 with 5, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in June (70 since 2015), followed by July and May. 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 15 storm episodes in Cumberland County since 2015, most often in September. 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 Fayetteville 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 Fayetteville

Within Cumberland County, 46 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Fayetteville as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (23), flash flood (19), flood (2), and hail (1). That is about 24% of the county’s reports. Reports naming Fayetteville are most common in June. The busiest full year was 2016 with 6. These reports record 4 deaths in total.

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

• June 30, 2015 (thunderstorm wind): “A couple of trees were blown down on power lines in Fayetteville.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Fayetteville

72.8% of occupied homes in Fayetteville are heated with electricity (US 41.3%). In a winter outage those homes lose heat the moment the power fails, and electric furnaces and heat pumps are too large to run from a portable generator. Warm layers, blankets and a plan for where to stay matter more here than in a gas-heated city.

Residents aged 65 or older are 12.9% of the population in Fayetteville, below the US share of 17.2% and 16% 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 Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 24.8% of the housing in Fayetteville was built before 1970 (US 35.5%); 52.6% 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 Fayetteville

The average Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) home used about 971 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 1.3 kW around the clock, and paid about 12.2 cents per kWh (14.1 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $119 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 73 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 Fayetteville

About 208,501 people live in Fayetteville, the 6th largest of the 10 North Carolina cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC)’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.

Fayetteville power outage map

Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC)’s outage map has the official restoration estimate for your address; the count above comes from residents. Food and generator safety: power outage guide.

Fayetteville power outage questions