Power Outages in the United States

How to read this power outage page

The number at the top is a 24-hour count of people who told us they lost electricity. It is not customers-out from every investor-owned utility, co-op, and municipal system. A storm that is obvious on the evening news can still under-count here if most people only used the official app. The reverse is also true: a few motivated reporters in one suburb can make a city look busier than the next town over.

If you searched power outage near me, this national rollup is the wrong zoom. It will not use your location. Scroll to your state, then the city power outage page. That is where the local report box and the listed electric providers live. Who to call is on the bill: the 24/7 outage line, not the marketing 800 number, and not 911 unless someone is in danger.

We are not affiliated with the utilities. Estimated restoration times, outage maps, and “crew on site” status come from them. If this page and the official map disagree, believe the map for your address and still treat a dark street as an outage.

What usually causes a power outage

Most US electric outages are local distribution, not a collapse of the high-voltage grid. Wind and trees take down overhead lines. Ice adds weight until a span or a pole fails. Lightning hits a transformer. Digging cuts an underground cable. Equipment fails because it is old, overloaded on a hot afternoon, or soaked after a storm. Utilities also schedule brief outages to work on a circuit; those are supposed to be announced, and they still leave the same dark kitchen.

A blackout that covers many states at once is rare. When this page’s count jumps, it is more often many local tickets in the same weather window than one national event. That is why the state and city lists matter: they show where the reports actually are, instead of implying the whole country is dark.

What to do during a power outage

If the lights just went out, spend thirty seconds on the house before you assume the grid failed. Look outside. If the block still has porch lights and the streetlights are on, check the main breaker and any GFCI that might have tripped a wider circuit. Unplug TVs and computers so they are not sitting on a surge when power returns.

• Report it to the utility if neighbors are dark, so a restoration ticket exists for your address.
• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors shut. A full freezer holds longer unopened; a fridge is a few hours, not a day.
• Use flashlights, not candles, if you can. Fire during an outage is a bad combination.
• Stay at least 35 feet from downed lines. Assume they are live. If a line is on a person or a car, that is 911, not the outage hotline.
• Never run a generator in a house, garage, or basement. Carbon monoxide has no smell you can trust in time.
• If you depend on powered medical equipment, you should already have a backup plan. Tell the utility you are on their medical-need list when you can; it does not jump you ahead of hospitals, but it is the right paperwork.

When power comes back it often comes with a brief voltage spike. That is why the unplug step is not fussy. Food that stayed above 40°F for hours is a health question, not a “maybe it’s fine” question; the USDA spoiled-food rules are stricter than most people want to hear after a long outage.

How power gets restored

Crews do not start on your street because you called first. They clear public safety (wires down on roads), then transmission and substations that feed thousands of meters, then the large distribution circuits, then the tap that serves a few houses. A hospital, 911 center, or water plant on the same feeder can change that order. “Assessment pending” on an outage map means they have not named the failed device yet. ETAs move when the same line re-trips or when they find a second break.

If you want a status, refresh the utility map, not this page. We will still show where user reports clustered in the last day. For the next storm, the useful habit is the same: know who your electric provider is, have the outage number saved, and keep a flashlight where you can find it in the dark.

Frequently asked questions