Garland, Texas Power Outage Today

How reliable is Garland Power & Light service in Garland?

Garland Power & Light is a city-owned utility with 76,337 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 0.11 interruptions and 9 minutes (9 minutes) without power, so the average outage lasted 84 minutes.

Outages are infrequent, fewer than one per customer a year, and each was fixed in 84 minutes on average.

For comparison, Texas as a whole averaged 1,271 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts Garland Power & Light 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, Garland Power & Light ranks 1st for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 97% 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 Garland

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 Garland do to the grid:

• 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.
• 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.

Storm reports that name Garland

Within Dallas County, 47 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Garland as their location or in their description: hail (18), flash flood (12), thunderstorm wind (12), and flood (3). That is about 8% of the county’s reports, so most of the county’s weather history happened elsewhere. Reports naming Garland are most common in May. The busiest full year was 2015 with 9. These reports record 12 deaths and 469 injuries in total.

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

• October 7, 2018 (thunderstorm wind): “Broadcast media reported downed power lines in the city of Garland, TX.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• August 12, 2016 (thunderstorm wind): “Various types of damage were reported in Garland such as blown off roof shingles, downed power lines, street light outages and numerous tree and branches.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Garland

56.5% of occupied homes in Garland 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 12.6% of the population in Garland, below the US share of 17.2% and 9% 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 Garland Power & Light whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 27.3% of the housing in Garland was built before 1970 (US 35.5%).

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

Backup power and electricity use in Garland

The average Garland Power & Light home used about 1,091 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 1.5 kW around the clock, and paid about 13.5 cents per kWh (14.9 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $147 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 84 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 Garland

About 246,018 people live in Garland, the 13th largest of the 20 Texas cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Garland Power & Light’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.

Garland power outage map

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

Garland power outage questions