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What Causes Electrical Outages?

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According to data submitted by more than 320 public power utilities to the American Public Power Association’s eReliability Tracker, more than 5.3 million customers were affected by 73,694 sustained outages in 2023. Understanding the causes of these outages helps public power utilities identify and prioritize areas for improvement to retain their reliability edge.

Top 10 causes of outages in 2023

Top 10 Causes of Outages in 2023

Outage Cause Total
Tree 8,503
Equipment 8,205
Squirrel 7,196
Unknown 6,992
Storm 5,471
Weather 4,329
Other Wildlife 4,193
Equipment Replacement (planned) 2,785
Electrical Failure 2,511
Bird 2,506

Across all regions, public power customers experienced, on average, less than one sustained outage per year, and over an hour less total outage time than customers of other utility types.

The Biggest Reliability Villains, by Region

Top causes of outages by region, 2023

Region

Top Outage Cause Outages by Top Cause Percent of Outages
1 Electrical failure 220 10.4%
2 Storm 1,492 24.5%
3 Squirrels 1,036 19.2%
4 Equipment 691 8.6%
5 Equipment  2,051 16.8%
6 Storm 502 22.2%
7 Trees 4,436 14.8%
8 Equipment Replacement (planned) 387 14.5%
9 Equipment  841 18.3%

 No data for Region 10, which includes the five U.S. territories.

When Outages Occur

The summer months see the highest volume of outages, with nearly 35% of outages occurring in June-August.

total outages reported in 2023, by month


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rundown of causes of outages in 2023 by type and region

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