OFF THE GRID: United States and Ashland County, Ohio Power Outage Tracker (2024)

FAQs

Where are the most power outages? ›

In 2022, California accounted for 24% of all U.S. power outages, and Texas accounted for 14%. California, Texas, and Pennsylvania are the states most affected by power outages during the winter.

Outages can happen as a result of damage to equipment or failure of markets involved in the generation, transmission, or distribution of electricity from remote locations to where it is used. Outages can also occur due to problems on a customer's own property.

States at high risk for blackouts include Maine, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, all of which experience frequent severe weather events. Which state has the least power outages? Washington D.C. has the least power outages, with an average of 0.47 outages per year.

Number of major blackouts by select state in the United States 2000-2023. Between 2000 and 2023, Texas was the leading U.S. state for major power outages, with almost 264 blackouts in the 23-year period. California followed, with 238 major power outages throughout the period under consideration.

Rising incidents of domestic terrorism and a surge in state-sponsored cyber attacks on critical infrastructure are posing a heightened risk to the U.S. power system, the nation's grid reliability authority warned last week.

Disrupt communications, water and transportation. Close retail businesses, grocery stores, gas stations, ATMs, banks and other services. Cause food spoilage and water contamination. Prevent use of medical devices.

Squirrels. Responsible for the greatest number of substation outages across the U.S., squirrels enter substations in search of shelter and warmth—and possess the instinct to remember the best nesting sites.

There have been 263 power outages across Texas since 2019, more than any other state, each lasting an average of 160 minutes and impacting an estimated average of 172,000 Texans, according to an analysis by electricity retailer Payless Power. California ranked second with 221 outages from 2019 to 2023, while Washington ...

California's grid depends on long-distance power lines. At one point, the power lines from hydro-electric sites in the Sierra Nevada to San Francisco were the longest in the world. But electricity of that magnitude of power flowing through a few cables is dangerous in high winds, especially on hot days.

Why does California have power outages? ›

Adequate energy supply can be impacted in several ways, primarily by high temperatures which causes increased air conditioning use and drives up electricity demand. Other factors include unexpected power plant or transmission line outages caused by mechanical failure, wildfire, or constraint on transmission lines.