Guides
In-depth resources on electric utility reliability, outage metrics, and what they mean for your U.S. home and finances. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration EIA Form 861 dataset, 918 electric utilities report SAIDI and SAIFI reliability metrics, standardized under IEEE Standard 1366, for the years currently published (2020–2023). These guides cover the federal definitions, how to read the numbers, and what they miss; see our methodology for refresh cadence.
Understanding SAIDI and SAIFI: What Power Outage Metrics Mean for You
Learn what SAIDI and SAIFI measure, how to interpret outage data, and why these metrics matter for homeowners and renters.
The Most (and Least) Reliable Electric Utilities in America
A data-driven look at which utilities lead in reliability and which consistently underperform, and why geography and utility type matter.
How Your Utility's Reliability Affects Home Insurance and Property Value
Frequent outages mean more sump pump failures, pipe freezes, and food spoilage. Here's how outage history can affect your insurance costs and home value.
Moving to a New Area? How to Check Your Future Utility's Outage History
Before you sign a lease or close on a house, find out how reliable your electric utility is, and what questions to ask.
Rural vs Urban Power Reliability: What the Data Shows
How power outage duration and frequency differ between rural and urban utilities, and what drives the reliability gap.
How Weather Affects the Power Grid
What EIA reliability data reveals about storms, extreme heat, ice events, and the growing gap between headline SAIDI and baseline performance.
IOU, Co-op, or Municipal: How Utility Type Affects Reliability
Different ownership structures serve different territories with different incentives. What the data shows about reliability across utility types.
Methodology
Our guides are based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Form 861 reliability data - the SAIDI and SAIFI outage metrics electric utilities file each year, plus other official government sources. Every statistic cited in these guides is drawn directly from those datasets, with sources referenced inline and explained in our methodology.
We present this federal data in plain language for a general audience. Where definitions differ between sources or change over time, for example, SAIDI with versus without major event days, we note those variations inline so the numbers are read correctly.