Sources and coverage
Sources and coverage
Power Grid Watch does not show any live or historical data yet. Today it points you to the official sources. This page lists those sources, says what each one covers, and explains the rules we will follow before we publish any figures ourselves.
Status today
No data layers are shown on this site yet. For current outages, use the official utility and state links on your state page. For everything else, use the official sources in the table below.
Data layers
| Layer | What it is | Official source | Status on this site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current reported outages | How many customer accounts a utility reports without power right now, by area. | Your utility's outage map. Nationally, ORNL ODIN gathers reports from participating utilities. | Not shown yet — we link to the official source. Your state page lists official outage links. |
| Restoration estimates | When a utility expects power to return. Estimates change as crews assess damage. | Your utility's outage map or account alerts. | Not shown yet — we link to the official source. We will never make our own estimate. |
| Annual utility reliability | Yearly outage frequency and duration per customer (SAIFI and SAIDI). | EIA-861 and the EIA reliability table | Not shown yet — we link to the official source. See Reliability. |
| Major incident history | Significant emergencies and disturbances that must be reported to the Department of Energy. Not every outage, and some did not cut anyone's power. | DOE-417 and the EIA disturbance archive (older events) | Not shown yet — we link to the official source. |
| Historical county outages | Past outage counts by county, recorded every 15 minutes from participating utilities. | ORNL EAGLE-I historical dataset | Not shown yet — we link to the official source. |
| Regional grid conditions | Electricity demand, generation and flows for regional balancing authorities, plus grid operator notices. Not customer outages. | EIA Hourly Electric Grid Monitor (EIA-930) and your regional grid operator | Not shown yet — we link to the official source. |
| Weather alerts | Official watches, warnings and advisories. Not outage predictions. | National Weather Service | Not shown yet — we link to the official source. |
| Long-term hazards | Community-level risk from natural hazards over many years, such as floods or earthquakes. Not a forecast for any home. | FEMA National Risk Index and the USGS national seismic hazard model | Not shown yet — we link to the official source. |
Rules we hold ourselves to
Before any figure appears on this site, it has to meet these rules. They are also how you can judge us once data does appear.
- Missing is never shown as zero. If a source does not report, or a report is empty, we will not show "0 outages." An empty answer is not the same as no outages.
- Unknown, stale and unavailable are real answers. When we do not know, when data is too old, or when a source is down, the page will say so plainly. It will never fall back to a reassuring message.
- Every figure carries its source, time and coverage. You will see who reported it, when it was observed, and which utilities and areas it covers and leaves out.
- Different things stay separate. Outages, grid strain, voltage reductions, planned shutoffs, weather alerts and long-term hazards will not be blended into one score.
- Comparisons must be fair. We will compare numbers only when they use the same method, time period, area and set of utilities. Changes in who reports will not be shown as a trend.
- Official numbers are not quietly corrected. When official sources disagree, we will show the disagreement rather than pick a figure.
- One layer at a time. Each layer is released only after we have checked how it works, what it covers and what it means. A problem with one source will not hold back the others.
- We link rather than copy where the right to reuse a source's data is not settled. A public map is not the same as permission to republish it.
How the state page links were chosen
Each state page links to official sources: the state utility regulator, state emergency or energy offices, and the utilities that serve the state, including city-owned utilities and cooperatives where we found them. The links were reviewed on November 10, 2026.
Some limits to keep in mind:
- Links can go stale. Utilities redesign websites, merge, or move their outage maps.
- A state list may miss a small utility. Your bill is the most reliable way to know who serves you.
- Where a utility's terms of use limit linking to its map directly, we may link to its home page or to the state regulator's directory instead.
- Utility service areas do not follow state, county or ZIP code lines.
If a link is broken, wrong or missing, please tell us. See corrections.
For what these layers mean, see Understand the grid.