Clarksville, Tennessee Power Outage Today

How reliable is CDE Lightband service in Clarksville?

CDE Lightband is a city-owned utility with 85,314 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 2.16 interruptions and 205 minutes (about 3.4 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted 95 minutes.

Major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately, made up about 52% of that time. Without them the average is 99 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 95 minutes. Clocks that blink and surge protectors matter more than a generator.

For comparison, Tennessee as a whole averaged 279 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts CDE Lightband 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, CDE Lightband ranks 21st for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 48% 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 Clarksville

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 167 storm reports for Montgomery County from 2015 through 2026, most often thunderstorm wind (100), flash flood (22), hail (19), and flood (10). The busiest full year was 2016 with 28 reports and the quietest was 2015 with 6, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in May (29 since 2015), followed by June 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 20 storm episodes in Montgomery 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 Clarksville 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 Clarksville

Within Montgomery County, 100 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Clarksville as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (52), flash flood (16), hail (15), and flood (9). That is about 60% of the county’s reports, so Clarksville accounts for much of the county’s storm history. Reports naming Clarksville are most common in May. The busiest full year was 2016 with 20. These reports record 4 injuries in total.

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

• May 26, 2024 (thunderstorm wind): “Severe thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines near Clarksville.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• June 17, 2022 (thunderstorm wind): “Twitter tSpotter reports indicate several trees were blown down with numerous power outages in Clarksville.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• May 14, 2022 (thunderstorm wind): “Multiple trees, power lines and power poles were blown down across Clarksville.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Clarksville

74.9% of occupied homes in Clarksville 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 9.6% of the population in Clarksville, below the US share of 17.2% and 15% 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 CDE Lightband whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 14.8% of the housing in Clarksville was built before 1970 (US 35.5%), so most homes are newer and more of the local lines are likely to be buried or recently replaced.

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

Backup power and electricity use in Clarksville

The average CDE Lightband home used about 1,121 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 1.5 kW around the clock, and paid about 12.8 cents per kWh (12.4 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $143 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 95 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 Clarksville

About 166,722 people live in Clarksville, the 5th largest of the 10 Tennessee cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check CDE Lightband’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.

Clarksville power outage map

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

Clarksville power outage questions