Dallas, Texas Power Outage Today

How reliable is Oncor service in Dallas?

Oncor is an investor-owned utility with 4,013,062 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.71 interruptions and 532 minutes (about 8.9 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 5.2 hours.

About 87% of that time came on major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately. On ordinary days the average falls to 67 minutes. A handful of severe-weather days, not everyday faults, set this utility’s year.

The long average outage is the notable figure: when the lights went out for Oncor customers, they stayed out for about 5.2 hours on average, which is long enough to spoil refrigerated food and strain medical needs.

For comparison, Texas as a whole averaged 1,271 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts Oncor below the state average, which is better.

Among the 70 utilities in Texas with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, Oncor ranks 52nd for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 20% 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 Dallas

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 608 storm reports for Dallas County from 2015 through 2026, most often hail (230), flash flood (168), thunderstorm wind (164), and lightning (18). The busiest full year was 2025 with 84 reports and the quietest was 2020 with 24, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in May (121 since 2015), followed by June and April. 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 2 storm episodes in Dallas County since 2015. 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 Dallas do to the grid:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 Dallas

Within Dallas County, 159 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Dallas as their location or in their description: flash flood (68), thunderstorm wind (51), hail (21), and flood (10). That is about 26% of the county’s reports. Reports naming Dallas are most common in June. The busiest full year was 2025 with 26. These reports record 14 deaths and 477 injuries in total.

Who a power outage hits hardest in Dallas

64.9% of occupied homes in Dallas 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 11.8% of the population in Dallas, below the US share of 17.2% and 12% 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 Oncor whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 33.5% of the housing in Dallas was built before 1970 (US 35.5%); 27.8% of homes are in buildings with 20 or more units (US 10.3%), where an outage also stops elevators and water pumps, which matters for upper floors and anyone who cannot use stairs; 57.6% 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).

If the power is out in Dallas

About 1,343,573 people live in Dallas, the 3rd largest of the 20 Texas cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Oncor’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.

Dallas power outage map

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

Dallas power outage questions