Every utility in America self-reports grid disturbances to the Department of Energy. Most installers never see this data. We pulled all of it — every county, every state — and mapped where the grid breaks most often, how long repairs take, and which ZIPs have the highest density of single-family homes waiting for a better option.
Which states have the most power outages?
Five states account for the bulk of grid disturbance events over the last 12 months:
- Texas — Heat, storms, and a sprawling grid that covers 26 million customers. ERCOT operates independently from the national grid, which means fewer backup options when demand spikes or equipment fails. We break down seasonal patterns and what's causing outages in a separate post.
- California — Wildfire-related Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) alone account for thousands of planned outages per year. PG&E reported over 600,000 customers affected in the last 90 days. We broke down the county-by-county California data separately.
- Florida — Hurricane season drives the biggest spikes, but even in calm months, lightning and humidity keep the event count elevated across most counties.
- Louisiana — Gets the same storm exposure as Florida with slower recovery. Entergy Louisiana averaged over 8,400 events in a recent 90-day window, spread across 60 parishes. We broke this down county by county for March 2026.
- Michigan — Ice storms and heavy tree contact. DTE Energy and Consumers Energy report some of the highest average repair durations in the country — vegetation-caused outages here last over 12 hours on average.
Why does outage density matter more than total count?
A state with 500 events spread across 3,000 ZIPs looks very different from one with 500 events packed into 50 ZIPs. GridProfile scores at the ZIP level for exactly this reason. The installer who knocks doors in a neighborhood that lost power last Tuesday has a different conversation than someone cold-calling from a purchased list.
What data should solar installers use to pick territories?
When you pull a GridProfile report for your counties, four things matter most:
- Recent events per ZIP — Not the state average. The specific ZIPs in your service area that had disturbances in the last 7-30 days. We walk through how to pick a solar territory using this data.
- Average repair hours — Longer repairs mean more homeowner frustration and more motivation to look at alternatives. States like New York average over 50 hours to full restoration.
- Single-family home % — A ZIP with 90% single-family homes and recent grid events is a better door-knocking target than one dominated by apartments.
- Electricity rate trends — Rising rates make the solar math easier to explain at the door.
Where does power outage data come from?
Every source GridProfile uses is a government or utility dataset: ODIN, EAGLE-I, Census ACS, EIA rates, DSIRE incentives. All publicly available. But none of them talk to each other. We stitch them together at the ZIP level, deduplicate overlapping reports, and deliver the result in a format you can act on every Monday morning.
If you want to see what your territory looks like, grab a free grid profile — pick your state and up to 3 counties and we'll email you the breakdown.