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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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Does EIA have information on unplanned disruptions or outages of U.S. energy infrastructure?

EIA provides the following resources and reports that include information related to unplanned outages or shutdowns of U.S. energy infrastructure:

EIA also publishes data on three metrics of the reliability of annual electricity service in the United States related to non-momentary electricity service interruptions experienced by customers of electricity distribution utilities:

  • System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), which is the number of service interruptions the average customer experienced.
  • System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), which is the number of minutes of interruptions that the average customer experienced.
  • Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI), which is the average number of minutes it takes to restore service from electricity service interruptions.

Utility-level data are published in the Reliability file of the Annual Electric Power Industry Report, Form EIA-861 data files. The data are aggregated to the national level and to state levels in the Electric Power Annual, Chapter 11: Distribution System Reliability.

In addition, EIA publishes articles on disruptions and outages of U.S. energy supply.

Learn more:
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Emergency Response website provides information and updates related to specific response efforts to weather-related events.

Last updated: January 8, 2024.


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