How Reliable Is Your Texas Power Utility?

Waco TX

26 February, 2021

4:43 PM

Description

WACO, TX — 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 Texas state experienced 4.84 hours without power in 2019 — 0.14 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 Texas 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. Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 3,567,787 IEEE standard followed: No Average customer hours without power, including major events: 6.32 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.22 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.71 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.75 CenterPoint Energy Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 2,564,204 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 3.79 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.35 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.77 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.3 AEP Texas Central Company Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 855,355 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 3.9 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.78 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.82 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.62 City of San Antonio - (TX) Owner type: Municipal Number of customers: 829,998 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.58 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.91 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.39 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.79 Austin Energy Owner type: Municipal Number of customers: 502,963 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.44 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.14 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.87 Entergy Texas Inc. Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 465,983 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 12.13 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 4.95 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 2.62 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 2.02 El Paso Electric Co Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 331,654 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.27 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.27 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.97 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.97 Pedernales Electric Coop, Inc Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 329,715 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 1.02 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.76 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.96 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.91 Southwestern Public Service Co Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 254,602 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 5.17 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.96 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.28 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.07 Denton County Elec Coop, Inc Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 247,014 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 0.85 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 0.62 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 0.72 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.63 Texas-New Mexico Power Co Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 246,383 IEEE standard followed: No Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.2 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.07 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.54 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: Not reported AEP Texas North Company Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 193,284 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 3.35 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.85 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.47 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.13 Southwestern Electric Power Co Owner type: Investor Number of customers: 186,258 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 15.5 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 5.07 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 3.32 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 2.33 Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (TX) Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 128,436 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.57 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.57 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.13 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.13 Magic Valley Electric Coop Inc Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 121,528 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.97 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 2.34 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: Not reported Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: Not reported Bluebonnet Electric Coop, Inc Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 100,409 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.82 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.71 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.55 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.12 United Electric Coop Service Inc - (TX) Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 86,609 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.4 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.64 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.52 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 1.19 Guadalupe Valley Elec Coop Inc Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 86,227 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 2.03 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 1.49 Number of outages for average customer, including major events: 1.13 Number of outages for average customer, excluding major events: 0.92 Sam Houston Electric Coop Inc Owner type: Cooperative Number of customers: 75,330 IEEE standard followed: Yes Average customer hours without power, including major events: 5.8 Average customer hours without power, excluding major events: 5.17 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 Texas utility providers.