Chattanooga, Tennessee Power Outage Today

How reliable is EPB service in Chattanooga?

EPB is a city-owned utility with 200,553 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.36 interruptions and 194 minutes (about 3.2 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 2.4 hours.

About 63% of that time came on major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately. On ordinary days the average falls to 72 minutes. A handful of severe-weather days, not everyday faults, set this utility’s year.

The typical outage was repaired in about 2.4 hours.

For comparison, Tennessee as a whole averaged 279 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts EPB below the state average, which is better.

Among the 52 utilities in Tennessee with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, EPB ranks 20th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 49% 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 Chattanooga

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 217 storm reports for Hamilton County from 2015 through 2026, most often thunderstorm wind (145), flash flood (33), hail (20), and flood (12). The busiest full year was 2025 with 42 reports and the quietest was 2021 with 11, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in June (50 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 6 storm episodes in Hamilton County since 2015, most often in June. 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 Chattanooga 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 Chattanooga

Within Hamilton County, 43 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Chattanooga as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (29), flash flood (7), flood (3), and hail (3). That is about 20% of the county’s reports. Reports naming Chattanooga are most common in June. The busiest full year was 2025 with 10. These reports record 3 deaths in total.

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

• June 7, 2025 (thunderstorm wind): “EPB of Chattanooga reported over 400 incidents of downed power lines, snapped power poles, or other infrastructure damage across Hamilton County.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• July 2, 2023 (thunderstorm wind): “Numerous reports of trees and power lines blown down by severe thunderstorm wind gusts around the city of Chattanooga.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• July 8, 2016 (thunderstorm wind): “Numerous trees and power lines were reported down across Chattanooga.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Chattanooga

73.1% of occupied homes in Chattanooga 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 17.3% of the population in Chattanooga, close to the US share of 17.2% and 14.1% 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 EPB whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 42.4% of the housing in Chattanooga was built before 1970 (US 35.5%); 47.6% 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 Chattanooga

The average EPB home used about 1,110 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 1.5 kW around the clock, and paid about 12.3 cents per kWh (12.4 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $137 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 2.4 hours 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 Chattanooga

About 181,099 people live in Chattanooga, the 4th largest of the 10 Tennessee cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check EPB’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.

Chattanooga power outage map

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

Chattanooga power outage questions