U.S. Electricity Interruptions Spiked in 2024 Due to Hurricanes
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U.S. consumers experienced a whopping 11 hours of electricity interruptions in 2024, almost twice as many hours as the annual average from the prior 10 years. This is according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which just published its “Electric Power Annual 2024” report. Let’s take a closer look.
Drivers of the 2024 Spike in U.S. Electricity Interruptions
Devastating storms such as Hurricane Beryl, Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton accounted for 80% of the 2024 outage hours. In fact, major weather events were directly responsible for 9 of the 11 hours of 2024 electricity interruptions recorded on average.
From a state perspective, customers in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Maine experienced the longest average duration of interruptions. South Carolina wins the prize for the most average hours, enduring 53 hours or electricity interruptions.
This makes sense when you consider, for example, that Hurricane Helene killed the power for over 1.2 million people in South Carolina (not to mention causing a large number of outages in North Carolina and Florida), Hurricane Beryl left 2.6 million customers in the dark in Texas, and Hurricane Milton knocked out the lights for 3.4 million people in Florida.
In contrast, customers in Arizona, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Massachusetts experienced, on average, less than 2 hours of interruptions in 2024.
In terms of frequency, Hawaii led the way with 4.4 interruptions on average in 2024, followed by Maine (3.7), Vermont (3.4), and Texas (2.2). On the opposite end of the spectrum, customers in South Dakota, Maryland, Illinois, and Massachusetts experienced, on average, less than 1 power interruption last year.
The bottom line is that electricity interruptions can and will happen anywhere, but at least this data can help contextualize the risk depending on the location of your service territory. If you’re in one of those states that gets pounded by nasty weather, it’s especially critical to review your emergency plan annually to keep it updated.
