How to Check if the Power Is Out Near You (and When It Will Be Back)

Key facts

• Start inside. If some lights or appliances still work, the likely cause is a tripped breaker or blown fuse, not a utility outage, according to Southern California Edison.
• Your utility is the authoritative source for your address, your outage report and your estimated restoration time (ETR).
• Smart meters help utilities spot outages. U.S. utilities had about 119 million smart meters in 2022, about 72% of all electric meters, per EIA. Many can send an automatic "last gasp" message when power fails.
• Our data comes from DOE/ORNL's ODIN program. As of February 2026, more than 155 utilities serving more than 47 million customers in 47 states were taking part, and data updates every 5–15 minutes. Utilities that aren't in the program don't appear on our map.
• Restoration follows a set order. Utilities typically restore power plants, transmission lines and substations first, then essential services, then the lines serving the most customers, and individual homes last, as the Edison Electric Institute describes.

Step 1: Rule out a problem inside your home

Before assuming the grid is down, take two minutes to check your own wiring.

• Some lights still on? That points to a tripped circuit breaker or blown fuse. SCE's advice is to "replace the fuse or reset the circuit breaker."
• Check GFCI outlets. These are the outlets with "test" and "reset" buttons. If one has tripped, press "reset" firmly. If that doesn't work, check the breaker for that circuit.
• Look at the main breaker. If the main breaker has tripped, the whole house goes dark even though the utility is supplying power.
• Stay safe. If the panel is wet, sparking or smells like burning, don't touch it. Call an electrician.

If everything at the panel looks normal and the whole house is dark, move on to step 2.

Step 2: Look outside

• Neighbors and streetlights. If they're also dark, it's a wider outage. If only your home is out, the problem could be the line or equipment serving just your house. That still needs to be reported.
• Downed lines. If you see a fallen power line, stay away from it. SCE's advice is to call 911 first, then your utility's emergency number.

Step 3: Check your utility, and report the outage

Your electric company's outage tools are the most precise source for your address. Most utilities offer several:

• Outage map on the utility's website, usually searchable by address.
• Mobile app with outage reporting and status updates.
• Text alerts. For example, Duke Energy customers can text "OUT" to 57801, according to Duke.
• Phone. Automated lines often get busy in big storms, so online tools may be faster.

Report the outage even if you assume the utility already knows. SCE asks customers to report outages that last more than a few minutes and to say whether more than one home is affected. Reports help the utility locate the problem.

While you're there, sign up for outage notifications so you get updates on restoration times without having to keep checking.

Step 4: Check PowerOutageTracker for the bigger picture

Our tools show what's happening around you, not just at your address:

• The live outage map shows customers without power by county across the U.S.
• The state and county outage pages list affected utilities, customer counts and, when the utility provides one, its latest estimated restoration time. Florida residents in hurricane season, for example, can bookmark the Florida outages page.
• The search box on every page accepts a state, county, city or ZIP code. A ZIP code takes you straight to your county's page.

What our data covers, and what it doesn't. Our live numbers come from the Outage Data Initiative Nationwide (ODIN), a Department of Energy program run by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Participating utilities publish their outage data in a common format, so the data is consistent from one utility to the next. But it covers participating utilities only. ORNL's February 2026 update also says plainly that ODIN "is NOT a replacement for existing utility outage maps." If your utility doesn't take part, a county showing no outages on our map does not mean your power is on. County pages note where live coverage is limited.

How outage maps know your power is out

Utilities build their outage maps from two main inputs.

1. Smart meter signals. Many advanced meters have a "last gasp" feature. When power fails, a small battery or capacitor gives the meter enough energy to send "a high-priority message ... when electrical service is out," as a Renewable Energy World analysis puts it. One utility saw outage notification times improve by as much as 60 minutes. The system has limits:

• In a big outage, message collisions can block as much as 80% of last-gasp messages.
• The outage can also knock out the meter network's own communication links.
• Even so, outage management systems can work well with as little as 15% of outages reported.
• After repairs, utilities can "ping" meters to confirm power is really back before crews leave.

2. Customer reports. Calls, texts and app reports fill gaps where meters don't report. They also help pinpoint the failed fuse, transformer or line.

The utility's outage management system combines these signals to estimate where the fault is and where to send crews.

Why different outage trackers show different numbers

Outage counts rarely match exactly from one site to another. Here's why.

Source	How data arrives	Coverage	Typical update
Your utility's outage map	Directly from its own outage management system	All of that utility's customers	Varies by utility
DOE/ORNL ODIN (PowerOutageTracker's data)	Utilities push standardized data	Participating utilities only: 155+ utilities, 47+ million customers (Feb. 2026)	Every 5–15 minutes
DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I	County-level estimates for federal situational awareness	About 92% of U.S. customers by 2022	Every 15 minutes

Sources: ORNL ODIN webinar, February 2026; Brelsford et al., Scientific Data, 2024.

Other reasons numbers differ:

• Customers aren't people. Outage counts measure utility accounts, or meters. A household of four is one customer. In the 2011 Southwest blackout, FERC noted that about 2.7 million customers were "equivalent to five million or more individuals."
• Timing. During fast-moving storm restoration, snapshots taken a few minutes apart can differ noticeably.
• Geography. Utilities map outages by service territory. Trackers often roll them up by county, and some outages straddle county lines.

What "estimated restoration time" (ETR) means

An ETR is your utility's current best estimate of when your power will return. Some utilities call it an ERT. A few things are worth knowing:

• It comes after damage assessment. Green Mountain Power explains that crews post an estimate only once they know how long repairs will take. After a major storm, there may be no estimate for hours.
• It can change. "Field conditions are constantly changing," GMP notes. High winds can halt work, crews can find unexpected hazards, and specialized equipment may have to travel in.
• Big storms take longer to estimate. Hurricane Milton made landfall the evening of October 9, 2024. On the morning of October 11, Duke Energy said it would issue ETRs to all its affected Florida customers that afternoon. After Hurricane Helene, DOE reported that some hard-hit areas might need an "expedited rebuild, rather than traditional restoration."

Use the ETR to plan food, medication, phone charging and where to stay, and check for updates. For typical outage lengths in your state, see our report on average power outage duration by state.

In what order is power restored?

The Edison Electric Institute's step-by-step guide lays out the typical order after a storm. First, crews make sure power is no longer flowing through downed lines. Then:

1. Power plants are assessed for damage and restored.
2. Transmission lines, the high-voltage lines serving thousands of customers over wide areas, are repaired.
3. Substations are brought online so power can reach local distribution lines.
4. Essential services, such as hospitals, nursing homes, fire and police departments and water systems, get power back.
5. Large service areas. Crews repair the lines that return service to the most customers in the least time.
6. Individual homes and small groups of customers come last.

This order explains a common frustration: your street may be back while your house isn't. A damaged service line to one home is a separate repair. EEI also notes that flooding can damage home electrical systems, and an inspection by a licensed electrician may be required before a home can get power again.

The bottom line

Check your breakers and GFCI outlets first, then look outside. If it's a wider outage, your utility's outage map, app and text alerts are the authoritative source for your address and your ETR. Report your outage even if you think the utility knows. Use PowerOutageTracker to see the regional picture, with one limit in mind: our live data covers ODIN-participating utilities only. While you wait, see what to do during a power outage to stay safe and protect food and electronics.

PowerOutageTracker.com. "How to Check if the Power Is Out Near You (and When It Will Be Back)." Accessed November 2, 2026. https://poweroutagetracker.com/guides/how-to-check-if-power-is-out-near-you