How Reliable Is Your North Carolina Power Provider?

Huntersville NC

26 February, 2021

4:49 PM

Description

HUNTERSVILLE, NC — The monumental power failure in Texas caused by unseasonable cold showed how extreme weather can push an electric grid to the brink. The average U.S. power customer loses electricity for 1.5 to 2 hours annually even before extreme weather events are taken into account, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As the Texas experience showed, hurricanes, snowstorms, heat waves and other extreme weather events can make such outages dramatically worse. Customers in North Carolina state experienced 4.79 hours without power in 2019 — 0.09 more hours than the national average of 4.7 hours in 2019, which is the most recent information available, according to the EIA. Nationally, 3.2 hours of downtime occurred during major events such as hurricanes and blizzards in 2019, and 1.5 hours occurred during non-major events. The average 2019 interruption time was shorter than 2018 and 2017, which saw total average outage times of nearly six hours and nearly eight hours respectively. Still, 2019's average total outage time was higher than 2013 through 2016, according to the EIA. The number of hours without power can vary widely from state to state, especially when many extreme weather events such as hurricanes, snowstorms and wildfires occur. North Carolina electric customers likely remember many hours in the dark during 2018 — the average customer in that state spent nearly 30 hours without power, much of that due to Hurricanes Michael and Florence. The states with the highest average total interruption time per customer in 2019 were Maine, West Virginia, California, Michigan and Mississippi, according to the EIA. Maine had severe winter storms and California had large wildfires. The states with the least amount of average downtime were Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Nebraska and Washington, D.C. The EIA collects outage data from electric utilities annually and asks for information with and without major outages. The two major metrics are: How often the average customer experiences a non-momentary power outage during a year, referred to as the system average interruption frequency index. How many minutes the average customer is without power annually, referred to as the system average interruption duration index. Most electric utilities use standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to make their calculations. The IEEE uses a complex formula based on a utility's historical data to determine whether an outage qualifies as a major event. It also only counts outages longer than five minutes. Utilities are mostly owned by investors, cooperatives or municipalities. Investor-owned utility customers spent an average of 5.1 hours without power in 2019 while municipal customers spent an average of 2.1 hours and cooperative customers had about five hours without the lights. Here's how utilities in North Carolina did during 2019, according to data from the EIA. Editor's note: This list was automatically generated using data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Please report any errors or other feedback to [email protected]. Can't find the utility provider you're looking for? Try searching for it here. Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 2,043,767 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 5.2 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.9 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.3 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.06 Duke Energy Progress - (NC) Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 1,408,476 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 4.87 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.48 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.63 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.29 EnergyUnited Elec Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 129,356 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 3.84 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.64 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.32 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.95 Virginia Electric & Power Co Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 123,872 IEEE standard followed: No Average customer hours without power, including major events: 12.05 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.35 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 2.21 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.24 Brunswick Electric Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 94,089 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 3.14 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.59 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.01 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.54 Fayetteville Public Works Commission Owner type: Municipal Number of customers: 84,488 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.24 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.14 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.32 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.15 Union Electric Membership Corp - (NC) Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 76,733 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 0.89 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.63 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.54 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.41 Jones-Onslow Elec Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 76,543 IEEE standard followed: No Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.17 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: Not reported Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.96 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: Not reported Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp - (NC) Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 75,761 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.19 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.19 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.39 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.97 Rutherford Elec Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 71,222 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.02 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.92 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.64 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.58 Greenville Utilities Comm Owner type: Municipal Number of customers: 69,198 IEEE standard followed: No Average customer hours without power, including major events: 0.78 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.78 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.56 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.56 Lumbee River Elec Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 61,442 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.99 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.67 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.18 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.11 Wake Electric Membership Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 46,705 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.45 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.45 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.09 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.09 South River Elec Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 45,132 IEEE standard followed: No Average customer hours without power, including major events: 3.61 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.29 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: Not reported Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: Not reported Town of High Point Owner type: Municipal Number of customers: 41,865 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 3.09 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.16 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.54 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.32 French Broad Elec Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 38,675 IEEE standard followed: No Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.29 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: Not reported Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.57 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: Not reported City of Wilson Owner type: Municipal Number of customers: 37,100 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 0.99 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.49 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.77 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.51 Piedmont Electric Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 32,533 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 5.51 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.77 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.66 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.83 Four County Elec Member Corp Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 32,455 IEEE standard followed: No Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.45 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.12 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: Not reported Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: Not reported Click here to see the numbers for more North Carolina utility providers.