Seattle, Washington Power Outage Today

How reliable is Seattle City Light service in Seattle?

Seattle City Light is a city-owned utility with 537,470 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.12 interruptions and 324 minutes (about 5.4 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 4.8 hours.

About 66% of that time came on major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately. On ordinary days the average falls to 111 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 Seattle City Light customers, they stayed out for about 4.8 hours on average, which is long enough to spoil refrigerated food and strain medical needs.

For comparison, Washington as a whole averaged 624 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts Seattle City Light below the state average, which is better.

Among the 27 utilities in Washington with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, Seattle City Light ranks 16th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 33% 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 Seattle

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 11 storm reports for King County from 2015 through 2023, most often heavy rain (8), lightning (1), debris flow (1), and flood (1).

NOAA’s own narratives name power outages in 2 storm episodes in King 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 Seattle do to the grid:

• Heavy rain. Saturated ground topples shallow-rooted trees onto lines, and standing water slows crews trying to reach the damage.
• Lightning. Lightning trips breakers, burns out transformers and can damage electronics connected to the grid; a surge protector on valuable equipment is cheap insurance.

Storm reports that name Seattle

Within King County, 7 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Seattle as their location or in their description: heavy rain (6) and lightning (1). That is about 64% of the county’s reports, so Seattle accounts for much of the county’s storm history. These reports record 1 injury in total.

Who a power outage hits hardest in Seattle

61.1% of occupied homes in Seattle 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 13% of the population in Seattle, below the US share of 17.2% and 10.3% 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 Seattle City Light whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 45.8% of the housing in Seattle was built before 1970 (US 35.5%), and older neighborhoods often have overhead service lines and mature trees close to the wires, which makes them more exposed to storm outages; 38.9% 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; 56.3% 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.

Median household income in Seattle is $123,860, above the Washington figure of $98,141, and home generators and batteries are correspondingly more common. If a neighbor runs one, keep the exhaust away from every window and door, including yours.

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

Backup power and electricity use in Seattle

The average Seattle City Light home used about 601 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 0.8 kW around the clock, and paid about 14.1 cents per kWh (11.9 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $85 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 4.8 hours takes about 1.9 kWh. A portable power station in the 1 to 3 kWh range covers part of that, and a small inverter generator covers all of it.

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 Seattle

About 737,015 people live in Seattle, the largest of the 10 Washington cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Seattle City 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.

Seattle power outage map

Seattle City 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.

Seattle power outage questions